The Lady Soldier
by pistonsfan75
Summary: Another story about Shang finding out Ping is a girl and how he handles it. How far will Mulan have to go to convince Shang to keep her secret? Sexual content and violence. Rated M for a reason. Trigger warning: sexual coercion and rape, mainly first two chapters
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I decided to rewrite this story to show more emotions, particulary Mulan's. Reviews are welcome and appreciated.**

It was early morning at Wu Zhong army camp, and I'd been there for three weeks. I always got up early to bathe now, before sunrise, since my near miss with Yao, Ling and Chien Po almost discovering my gender.

I hadn't slept well the night before, since there had been two snakes in my tent that were probably planted there by either Yao or Ling. It had taken me several minutes to catch and get rid of them, then I was nervous about going to sleep since I wasn't sure what else might be lurking in there.

The sky was still dark, but I could still make out the charred remains of Chi Fu's tent where I had accidentally shot a cannon at it a few days before. I had been embarrassed that my ability to operate that kind of artillery was so poor, but it was funny that the obnoxious man's tent was destroyed. Everybody hated Chi Fu, so many of my comrades were happy it happened and it actually helped me not to get bullied quite as much as before.

I deposited my training uniform on the shore and jumped in. The cool water felt incredibly soothing on my sore muscles. I'd spent the entire night before last trying to climb the pole and retrieve the arrow. I'd worked at it all night, for 8 hours, and finally reached the top. My hands were blistered, and I had plenty of splinters. Unfortunately, I'd barely been able to move after I climbed back down.

The sound of someone else entering the water startled me out of my thoughts. I ducked down into the water.

Just three nights before, I had narrowly missed discovery when Chien Po, Yao and Ling had jumped in while I was still bathing. I had immediately ducked down into the water up to my nose, but they saw me, anyways. That's when I saw way more of Yao than I'd ever wanted to.

I looked around quickly, and hid behind the rock. It was Captain Li. I held my breath and watched as he dove under the surface and made my move. If I'm quick enough, he won't see me getting out.

I stood up and quickly grabbed my towel to wrap around me. That's when I noticed my captain was watching me from the pond, his face showing his shock at seeing my gender. He must have surfaced quicker than I thought. He just saw me naked, plain as day. There's no way out of this now that he knows.

In a panic, I quickly dressed and grabbed Khan. I started to turn to run back to my tent, until I heard an order to stop. It's not like I could hide from my captain, so I'm not sure why I thought running away would help anything.

"Come back here, Soldier Fa."

My heart pounding, I slowly turned to face the now dressed captain. The penalty was death for a woman joining the army. I was going to die today and my father would be drafted in my place.

He glared down at me, arms folded. "Why did you join the army as a woman? Did you know what the penalty was?"

"Yes, sir. But, my father was seriously injured in battle years ago and trying to fight again would have cost him his life. I couldn't bear to lose him, so I took his place."

"So Fa Zhou really doesn't have a son, does he?"

"No, sir."

"I should kill you right here for deceiving me. What's your name?"

"Mulan"

"Infiltrating the Chinese army as a woman is punishable by beheading, Fa Mulan. If you leave now, quietly, I won't kill you. But, I will send for your father in your place."

"No, please don't make him go to war. He can barely walk. He's already fought bravely."

"You can't continue here, so whether you leave of your own accord right now or I kill you, he's going to have to come take your place. Someone from your family has to serve in the army."

"Please, Captain Li, please let me stay. He'll die if he goes to war. I'll do anything. Just please don't make him fight."

He stood looking at me solemnly for what seemed like a long time.

"My father is a stern general who always follows the law to the letter. Twice he discovered he had women in his army. He secretly let them stay rather than killing them, but they had to do certain things for him. Perhaps we could make the same arrangement."

"I'll do anything to protect him. What do you want me to do?"

"My father would visit these lady soldiers' tents every day, or they would visit his. This is how he handled women sneaking into his troops, and this is what I'll do. Being in the army makes a man lonely. If you give your body to me every day, I'll let you stay."

My body in exchange for him allowing me to stay. I guess I'm naive, because when he said I'd have to do "certain things" for him, I was not expecting that. I thought maybe he meant dish duty or cleaning the privy or cleaning Chi Fu's tent. But, having sex with him every day? How could I do that?

I could go along with this, and stay. Or I could refuse and be killed and my father drafted in my place.

"Are you serious?"

"Yes, Mulan, I am."

"You want me to have sex with you in order to stay so he doesn't have to fight?"

"That's what I said. Don't make me repeat myself."

"That's not fair. Isn't there another way?"

"No, there's not."

"Please? I don't want to do this."

"No. Either you go quietly right now, or continue to argue with me and I kill you or you have sex with me and stay so you can protect your father. What will it be?"

"I'm not ready to give up my virginity."

"Mulan, the window of time that I would have allowed you to leave quietly is over. Now your choices are either having sex with me every day or dying and having your father be drafted."

"Isn't there anything else besides having sex with you that I can do?"

Captain Li drew his sword out of its scabbard.

"It appears you made your decision. I told you I wouldn't argue with you. Kneel down, Mulan, and take the penalty for dishonoring the Chinese army."

I knelt down and lowered my head. An image of my father doing sword fighting formations and falling to the ground in pain flashed through my head. A tear rolled down my cheek. I was about to be beheaded and he would be drafted. I'm sorry, Father.

An image of my mother weeping as he left for war flashed through my mind. No, I can't let him die. Not when there was a way I could still save his life.

I looked up at my captain as he was raising his sword to deliver the deathblow.

"Stop! I'll do it. I'll have sex with you to keep my father alive."

"Every day?"

"Yes, sir. Every day."

"However and whenever I want it?"

"Yes, sir. However and whenever you want it, I'll have sex with you." The gods help me, this was not going to be pleasant. I'd just condemned myself to what could be months of being my captain's sex slave.

He put the sword back. "Good choice. Go to your tent. I'll be there shortly."

Angry and depressed and in shock all at once, I tied up Khan and went to my tent to give my body to my captain. I stood inside and waited, unsure what to do. Should I take my clothes off? Lay down? How soon was he coming in here? I couldn't believe he was asking me to do this. I also couldn't believe I agreed.

A moment later, Captain Li came into my tent. He made sure the entrance was closed tightly and put his finger to his lips to tell me we had to be really quiet.

"Remove your clothing and lay down, please."

I took my shirt off while he stood and watched. His eyes went right to my breasts. He watched as I took my training pants off, his eyes roaming up and down my body. No one else had ever seen me naked before. I desperately wanted to cover myself up with a blanket, but I wasn't done yet.

I laid down on the mat, my heart beating rapidly in my throat. Captain Li's clothes came off and after staring at my nakedness for a moment longer, he climbed on top of me. I was too nervous to admire the hard musculature of his body. What I was about to do would change my life forever.

I hoped this wouldn't hurt too badly as he rubbed my breasts. Then he pushed my legs apart and I felt him thrust himself into me. It wasn't as painful as I'd heard, but it did hurt. I stared up at the ceiling as he started moving in me.

I tried unsuccessfully to ignore my conscience. I could hear my mother's voice in my head telling me this was only for a married couple. I remembered my grandma talking about what a prostitute was, because it felt like I was doing the same thing.

I tried not to imagine my father's disappointed expression if he found out. I remembered the last thing he said to me. "I know my place, and it's time you learned yours." Was this what my place was, being a sex toy for my captain so he wouldn't draft my father? Would I spend the rest of my life being some man's sex toy? Would I ever know real love?

I imagined my parents getting the news that I was dead and my father having to go to war anyway. I imagined my mother and grandmother surviving without us. No, this is what I had to do, giving up the most personal part of me. It's up to me to keep the family together now. That's why I spread my legs for my captain. I am such a whore.

A tear rolled down my cheek, and then another as I realized what I was giving up. Honor, purity, virginity. The chance to one day be married. Self respect. All of it, gone with this one disgusting act.

No man would want me now. Maybe I should have chosen death. But then I would also be choosing my father's death, and there was no way I was going to do that.

After he was done, he stood up and got dressed again. Before leaving, he turned around and told me he'd be back that night.

I cleaned myself up since I was bloody and had his fluids on me. Tonight, after he leaves again, I'll clean up at the pond. It's daylight now. After getting dressed, I sat on my mat to think since I had a few minutes until training started.

I had just given up my virginity to stay alive. Otherwise, I would have been killed as the law states. Was I no better now than the ladies working in brothels? I'm a whore, no two ways about it. I buried my face in my hands and cried.

There was a hollow ache in my chest. I had hoped that when I gave myself to a man for the first time, that it would be for love even in a time when marriage for love was nearly unheard of.

I never thought I would do anything like this. What would my parents say? I was positive they'd disown me on the spot.

It was hard to look at Captain Li during training, so I did my best to avoid eye contact and put my heart into the exercises. I tried to pretend this wasn't all happening.

I managed to run ahead of everyone for the long trek with bags of rice on our shoulders. I even landed a kick to Captain Li's jaw during mixed martial arts sparring. Laying on the ground, he flashed me a proud smile for a second, then went back to his usual scowl.

When the day was finally over, I drug myself to my tent, exhausted. Within a few minutes, he came in through the entryway and shut it tight. He watched me get undressed again, much to my dismay.

This time, thankfully, it didn't hurt at all when he went inside me. Just like this morning, I laid there and waited for him to be done. I feel so dirty. This was my life now, training and being my captain's sex toy.

He finished and got dressed. "I'll see you tomorrow."

I had to go along with it or die. How did I get myself into this? Suddenly, my life depended on my performance for my captain, and not just on the field. I had to keep him satisfied sexually or be killed.

I was starting to wish I had just opted to die, except I didn't want my father being forced to take my place.

I did my best to hold up my end. I avoided eye contact with Captain Li during the day as much as possible. Every night, he came to my tent after training was done so he could have sex with me. I'd undress, lay down and just wait for it to be over. Then I'd remind myself why I was doing this, go bathe in the pond and go to sleep.

Bathing in the pond cleaned my body, but never washed away the filth I felt inside. The shame of what I was doing never went away. It became hard to drag myself out of bed in the morning, knowing what the end of each day held in store. How could I ever go back home to my family after behaving this way? Maybe I could find work at a brothel after the war.

Weeks went by, and every night I gave myself to my captain. I found myself slowly starting to look forward to him coming, little by little. I was beginning to enjoy his kisses that he was starting to give me while he was over me, and the attention he gave my breasts. I liked the way he looked at me while we had sex, this dark and hungry look he would wear.

Slowly, the pleasant feelings started to happen more often than the negative ones. I hated to admit it to myself, but I was starting to enjoy it. Other than when I'd kicked him in the jaw, it was the only time I saw Captain Li smile. Usually he wore the fierce scowl of a drill instructor.

Eventually, I started to very much enjoy having sex with my captain. I reached that overwhelming peak every time, now. Sometimes just the way he looked at me got me excited. Instead of his visit being the part of the day I dreaded, it was the part I looked forward to the most, other than meals. His touch burned on my skin and I couldn't get enough of it.

I still felt like a dirty whore, because that's exactly what I was. A dirty whore. The pond never washed that away. I wondered what would happen after I left the army, when the war was over. I couldn't get married, unless it was to Captain Li. No man would want a woman who had done what I did.

Our regiment was in the middle of a long mountain run when I suddenly realized my monthly bleeding hadn't started in a while. I knew this could happen.

Having a child out of wedlock would mean being a permanent outcast for the rest of my life. It seemed every move I made lately would make me more of a pariah after the war. I was a woman pretending to be a man in the army, and now I was pregnant by my captain. An abortion herb was my only option.

I ran over by where Captain Li was running, slightly ahead of everybody, and whispered to him.

"We have a problem."

"You're pregnant?"

"Yes, I am."

"I'll stop by the medic's tent later. It'll be alright."

Sure enough, he had something in his hand when he came to my tent that night. Dong Quai, an herb frequently used for inducing miscarriage. He had told the medic that one of the soldiers was a pregnant female, but didn't want to say who. Because of the potential for heavy bleeding, the medic insisted on knowing who would be using the potent herb before he would dispense it. He would need to check on me frequently to make sure my bleeding didn't get too heavy.

So now the medic knew who I was. I had never wanted anyone else to know what I was doing to stay alive. But he promised not to tell Chi Fu. Shang told me to expect the medic to check on me a couple times a day for the next several days.

"He also told me not to touch you for about a week after this kicks in. That definitely didn't make my night."

"But tonight's ok? " Much to my own shame, I was hoping it was.

In answer, he yanked my training shirt off, picked me up and put me on the mat. Guess so.

"Yup, it is. And I intend to make it last me for a week."

He pulled off my training pants and I laid there naked while he looked me over. Than he leaned forward and started sucking on my breasts. I was beginning to love it when he did that, and he knew it. I ran my fingers through his hair as I bit my lips together to keep quiet. I felt him insert his fingers into me, and his mouth left my breasts and drifted downward. His tongue began moving over the most sensitive part of me, and I shut my eyes and covered my own mouth and enjoyed the sheer pleasure of what he was doing. His warm tongue moved up one side of my wet heat and down the other several times, right by that little nub but not touching it. The teasing was making me crazy. "Shang, please…"

"Please what?"

"You know what…"

"Oh, you mean this?" He flicked his tongue wildly over the nub for a second, then stopped.

"Yes" I whimpered. "Please?"

His lips locked over it and he licked and sucked on it fiercely while he furiously jammed his fingers into me. It didn't take long until my body jerked and arched from the climaxing intensity. Just in time, he clapped his free hand over my mouth as an intense orgasm nearly made me scream. Then he climbed over me and pushed himself inside of me with more force and power than he ever had before. His thrusts rocked my body so hard I couldn't focus my eyes. Moments later, we both reached a peak and laid there catching our breath.

Instead of getting up and leaving, he stayed over me. I must have looked confused.

"I want you more than once tonight, since it's going to be several days before we can do this again."

We stayed on the mat that way for a little while until he was ready again. This time, he had me flip over to my stomach before he went back in. That was something new, and it was fun. He began kissing the back of my shoulders and neck, and I loved that. When he planted kisses down my spine, I nearly went wild. Suddenly, he stuck a finger right into my back passage, and I nearly lost control. I shoved a corner of the blanket into my mouth and bit down on it. The amazing sensation of that combined with him shoving himself into me with so much force was making me crazy with desire. Once again, when we both hit a peak, it was hard to stay quiet. I turned over onto my back again.

The third time, he laid on his back and pulled me over him. While I moved on top of him, his hands caressed my breasts. Then he lifted his head up and chased my bouncing nipples with his mouth and tongue while his hands massaged my bottom cheeks. Then he shoved a finger up into my passage again. When I was just about there, I locked my mouth on his to avoid making any noise. I rolled off of him and he stood up.

"You wore me out. I think I'm going to go to my tent and go to sleep. One of these days, I'll stick more than just my finger up there."

"Hmmm… I might like that." Of course I would. I'm a whore now. He grinned at me.

Before Captain Li left, he gave me the medic's instructions and told me to get started as soon as possible. "I won't expect you to report for training tomorrow. The medic wants you to take it easy while you're miscarrying." Then he pulled me close to him and kissed me, and headed back to his tent. I watched him go and wondered what it would be like to be able to hold him for an entire night. I hoped someday I would get to find out.

After he left, I snuck out to the pond and bathed, as I had started doing every night. After 3 times, I definitely needed it, since I was a sticky mess.

How had I gone from being willing but not really liking it to sort of enjoying it to wanting and needing sex so badly? I was still his sex toy.

Some day I hoped I would be able to be with him in a different setting where we didn't need to be so quiet and constantly concerned about being discovered.

I took the herbal powder as instructed and went to sleep. In the morning, nothing was happening at all, so I took more and dressed for training. Captain Li saw me running out to the training field and raised his eyebrows, looking a little concerned. I just shrugged and shook my head. He was probably worried that it wouldn't work. So was I.

I made it through training until about noon. After the long mountain run with the other soldiers, my lower gut felt like it was being squeezed in two. It was like my monthly cramping only ten times worse.

I signaled to the captain and walked to my tent doubled over, stopping to vomit on the way. Collapsing on my mat in the fetal position, I noticed blood staining my training pants. Hopefully, no one else had seen it. The medic had said once I started bleeding, not to take any more Dong Quai. I'd keep it for later, although the thought of having to go through this again was daunting.

I wasn't sure how to feel about this baby. I was mostly relieved at no longer being pregnant, but also a little sad that I would never get a chance to know my child.

Having my belly become swollen with pregnancy would give my gender away. I really didn't want to be a mother now, anyway.

The medic stopped in to check on me and told me it was working, that my pregnancy had ended. He always kept Dong Quai for situations such as mine. Seems I wasn't the first woman to sneak into the army and end up pregnant trying to keep herself alive. He could give me a supply of herbs to take each month to keep my bleeding coming regularly.

I felt embarrassed speaking with the medic about my arrangement with the captain exchanging sex for clemency and protection. He swore he wouldn't tell anyone else at the camp, so I opened up to him a little. I told him about my father, Fa Zhou, and how I took his place. Then I told him about Captain Li seeing me at the pond, and what he said I had to do with him to stay alive.

Thankfully, he didn't act like he judged me at all as I told him what a whore I was. He'd probably heard it all before and then some, having been an army medic for over thirty years. He gave me more instructions on caring for myself during the induced miscarriage and how to keep from getting pregnant again.

"I'll be back tomorrow to check on you."

Luckily, I had an extra uniform, since this one was bloody. Although I wasn't sure how to get it clean without being seen. If I was feeling better, I'd go to the pond to wash it in the early morning.

Captain Li came in with some food for me after I'd woken from a nap. It was hard to eat with my stomach cramping so badly, but I made myself anyway and kept it down so he wouldn't worry about me.

The next morning, with my gut feeling less like it was stuck in a vice, I snuck out of the tent before dawn to bathe and wash my clothes. It felt good to get the blood all washed off. To my relief, the stains came out of my uniform. The sound of footsteps alerted me that I had company, but thankfully it was just the captain. After inquiring how I was doing, he jumped into the pond to take his own bath.

That day I felt a little better, but the bleeding continued. For 4 more days, I had lots of bleeding, with a little cramping. The medic said I was doing alright, though. I stayed in my tent all the time, unless I was bathing and washing my clothes and mat in the pond under the cover of darkness.

The other soldiers knew I was sick. Captain Li said I was contagious when Yao, Ling and Chien Po asked if they could visit me.

He brought my meals in and gave me an extra training uniform and mat since I was getting everything blood soaked. He wanted to keep this as secret as I did, probably more. I'm sure if he was found out by Chi Fu, he'd be in very hot water for what he was doing. It wouldn't matter to the Emperor's counsel that his father did the same exact thing.

The medic left for a day about a week after my induced miscarriage, but then came back. He said it was because of family business or something similar. He had mentioned that he had been in the army with my father, and it briefly crossed my mind that maybe he went and told my parents about my pregnancy. I dismissed that thought, though. Why would he do that?

I found myself wondering if the baby had been a boy or a girl. He or she had never even been given a chance to be born. But with both of us being in the army, at war, it didn't bode well for the child to have a very good life. Supposed we had both died? Then what would have become of our child?

Even though I knew we did the right thing, I felt so much guilt. I started having nightmares about a tiny Chinese baby left alone on a mountain battlefield, surrounded by dead soldiers, including both of the parents. Or another was about a running, laughing toddler, putting his arms out to me and calling for mama, only to be struck down by Hun warriors.

No, someday I would bring a child into the world, but not now.

When the seven days was over, I went and bathed in the pond in the dark hour before dawn. My bleeding had slowed enough that I was pretty sure I would be ok during training.

Captain Li came to the pond shortly after I did, and the first thing he did was wrap his arms around me and kiss me like he hadn't touched me in a year.

Remembering a ledge on the rock in the pond, I pulled away and pointed at it. He picked me up and carried me over and set me on it. Then he pushed my back against the rock and I felt the wonderful sensation of him going inside me and let out a loud moan.

Oops, good thing the rest of the camp was still asleep, and no one heard that.

He slammed into me hard as he pressed me into the rock, and I wrapped my legs around him. It didn't take long, and we were both moaning into each other's hair to cover the sounds we made as we both climaxed.

Then I jumped down into the water, got cleaned up and we got started with training. I found I got worn out much quicker, and Captain Li excused me from the mountain runs for the next several days. The medic said my fatigue was from blood loss, and it would get better with time.

Before Captain Li left my tent that night, he told me he wanted to marry me. He knew I couldn't marry anyone else, and he liked the way I satisfied him.

I told him the story of failing the Matchmaker's test and how no one in my village wanted to marry me.

He laughed at the story of me setting the Matchmaker's dress on fire and dumping a pot of tea on her to put it out. Then he kissed me and told me he already knew I had what it took to be a great wife. I hope he's right. I only felt like I had what it took to be a great whore.


	2. Chapter 2

Shang's POV:

I prefer to bathe in the pond in the early morning, before most of the recruits get up. The only other person up that early is Ping. He seems to want to bathe alone, too. I do it because I prefer the peace and quiet. That little rascal probably bathes in the early morning because he's self-conscious about his scrawniness and lack of muscles.

Well, that's my old theory, anyway. Before I discovered the truth about my youngest and smallest, but bravest soldier.

It all changed one day when I got to the pond a little bit later than normal and saw Khan, Ping's horse, by the pond, which meant Ping was there as well. Knowing he wouldn't want to be disturbed, I slipped into the water quietly after leaving my clothes on the shore.

Ping must have heard me, cuz I saw him quietly creep out of the pond and try to throw a towel on. Or rather, I saw _her_. I got a full frontal view of a naked female Ping getting out of the pond.

You've got to be kidding me, I thought. My breath caught in my chest. I was in shock. I'd had no clue one of my soldiers was female. How could she have fooled me for so long? Now, it seemed to explain a lot. The secretiveness with bathing, the scrawniness that no amount of training had bulked up, the lack of brute strength, the occasionally high-pitched voice and the lack of facial hair.

Suddenly, she looked up and saw me staring at her. I saw the panic on her face as she quickly dressed and turned to run back to her tent. Since I now had an erection that I didn't want seen, I quickly ran out of the pond and dressed, making sure my tunic covered it.

The law said I had to kill her now. Women who snuck into the army were beheaded. Maybe I could convince her to leave right away, quietly, and I could avoid killing her.

I ordered her to stop and come back. She was shaking as she turned around. I put on my sternest captain face, even though I had an idea how I could resolve this without any bloodshed.

In my harshest captain voice, I questioned her. "Why did you join the army as a woman? Did you know what the penalty was?"

"Yes, sir." She looked scared, really scared. "But, my father was seriously injured in battle years ago and trying to fight again would have cost him his life. Even walking is a struggle for him. I couldn't bear to lose him, so I took his place." She stared at the ground, and I thought I saw a tear on her cheek. She obviously loved him.

Her father, Fa Zhou, had once been a renowned General and a courageous war hero before a crippling injury took him off the battlefield for good. From what I'd heard, he'd never fully recovered. So she put herself in danger to protect him. That cemented my decision not to carry out what the law demanded if I could avoid it.

"So Fa Zhou really doesn't have a son, does he?"

"No, sir."

"I should kill you right here for deceiving me. What's your name?"

"Mulan"

"Infiltrating the Chinese army as a woman is punishable by beheading, Fa Mulan. If you leave now, quietly, I won't kill you. But, I will send for your father in your place."

"No, please don't make him go to war. He can barely walk. He's already fought bravely."

"You can't continue here, so whether you leave of your own accord right now or I kill you, he's going to have to come take your place. Someone from your family has to serve in the army."

"Please, Captain Li, please let me stay. He'll die if he goes to war. I'll do anything. Just please don't make him fight."

I remembered my father being in the same situation twice when he discovered female soldiers among his troops. He had let these women stay as long as they had sex with him. He justified it by saying these ladies were like his concubines, and he was doing them a favor by letting them live. At home, I had been allowed to have sex with his concubines whenever I wanted, and had been missing it. He'd taught me that a woman's sole purpose in life was to please men.

I looked up to my father and hoped to be as great a general some day as he was now. "My father is a stern general who always follows the law to the letter. At least twice he discovered he had women in his army. He secretly let them stay rather than killing them, but they had to do certain things for him. Perhaps we could make the same arrangement."

"Yes. Whatever it takes to protect him. What do you want me to do?"

"My father would visit these lady soldiers' tents every day. This is how he handled women sneaking into his troops, and this is what I'll do. Being in the army makes a man lonely. If you give your body to me every day, I'll let you stay."

She looked very surprised. She must be quite naive to the ways of the world, because I'm positive she thought I meant dish duty or cleaning the privy. "Are you serious?"

"Yes, Mulan, I am."

"You want me to have sex with you in order to stay so he doesn't have to fight?"

"That's what I said. Don't make me repeat myself."

"Isn't there another way?"

"No, there's not."

"Please? I don't want to do this."

"No. Either you go quietly right now, or continue to argue with me and I kill you or you have sex with me and stay so you can protect your father. What will it be?"

"I'm not ready to give up my virginity."

I was getting irritated. "Mulan, the window of time that I would have allowed you to leave quietly is over. Now your choices are either staying and having sex with me every day or dying and having your father be drafted." Be my sex slave, and live. Refuse, and die.

"Isn't there anything else besides that?"

I drew my sword out of its scabbard. I'd had enough and I refused to argue with her any longer. It was time to carry out the law, since she was apparently refusing my offer.

"It appears you made your decision. I told you I wouldn't argue with you. Kneel down, Mulan, and take the penalty for dishonoring the Chinese army." Her sole purpose was to please men and she refused to do it.

She did as she was told, and as she lowered her head, I saw a tear run down her cheek.

I raised my sword to deliver the deathblow and took a deep breath and was about to bring it down on her neck when she raised her head up and spoke.

"Stop! I'll do it. I'll have sex with you to keep my father alive."

"Every day?"

"Yes, sir. Every day."

"However and whenever I want it?"

"Yes, sir. However and whenever you want it, I'll have sex with you." Just like a good woman should.

I put the sword back in the scabbard. "Good choice. Go to your tent. I'll be there shortly." I had been angry a moment ago. Now I was excited. I had myself a little plaything now. Being a captain certainly has its perks.

Walking into her tent, I made sure the entrance was closed tightly and put my finger over her mouth to let her know we had to be very quiet. I noticed she looked really nervous. Why wasn't she naked? She better get used to it.

"Remove your clothing and lay down, please."

She took her training clothes off while I watched and then laid down. I took my uniform off and climbed on top of her after standing there admiring her body for a quick moment. I rubbed and squeezed her breasts.

When I pushed her legs apart and entered her, she gasped. She must have been a virgin, not that I was expecting any different. I started moving in her, ignoring how sad and angry her facial expression was. I pretended not to see the tears run down her cheeks. I didn't care. She chose to be my sex toy.

Finally, my breathing got heavy and I collapsed over her as pleasure surged through my whole body. I had missed the concubines at home while away at army camp. I was definitely going to enjoy this arrangement, having sex every day with my new little plaything.

Before I left, I told her I would be back tonight. She had promised whenever and however.

That day during training, she performed better than everyone else. But she avoided my eyes as much as possible. I watched her body as she completed the drills, and felt myself getting aroused. I couldn't wait to play with her again.

A little voice in the back of my head whispered that it was wrong to put her in a situation where she had to give up her honor or give up her life. I ignored it. I was the commanding officer, and it was my choice. Besides she knew what she was doing, being my sex toy.

I knew my father had done the same thing more than once before. I had once walked in on him here at Wu Zhong having sex with a soldier who was apparently female. Several days later, I overheard him talking to the medic about her needing herbs to cause a miscarriage. I saw him sneaking into her tent frequently for that 6 month training period.

The following year it was a different woman soldier disguised as a man, that he convinced to have sex with him and then impregnated. He had abused his position as commanding officer, just as I now was. But I also was giving her a way to protect her father. All she had to do was be my sex slave. Spread her legs every day for me, and her father would be fine.

Later that afternoon, I practiced martial arts with the soldiers. Mulan managed to land a firm kick on my jaw and knocked me down. I gave her an approving grin for a moment. She was performing well, on the training field and in bed.

That night, as promised, I came to her tent again. I stood and watched her take her clothes off as my heart raced in anticipation. When I pushed inside her, I noticed she didn't gasp or show any signs of pain this time. She may learn how to become a good concubine and satisfy me very well.

As I was leaving her tent, I had to put my conscience into a chokehold to shut it up. That little voice in the back of my head telling me this was wrong just wouldn't stop. I decided to ignore it. My father had done this, after all. A man has needs, and she was willing to be my sex toy.

We fell into a routine of avoiding eye contact during training as much as possible, then I came to her tent every night afterward. For the first many weeks I had sex with my plaything, she just laid there and waited for it to be done.

Gradually, I began to get more response out of her. I started kissing and talking to her instead of just quietly having sex with her and leaving. It began to look like she was getting pleasure out of it, too. Eventually, my little plaything started getting orgasms every time. That did make it more enjoyable.

Then one morning she ran up to me during a long mountain run and whispered that she was pregnant. I told her that I would stop by the medic's tent later and obtain herbs for her that would cause a miscarriage. I was actually wondering when this was going to happen.

The medic only seemed a little surprised when I explained to him I had a pregnant female in my ranks. He'd seen this happen before. In fact, he had been the medic present here when my father had done the same thing those two times. Those were just the times I knew about. I'm guessing he'd probably had sex with female soldiers more than that.

I didn't want to let on which soldier it was, but he insisted on it so he could check on her to make sure she did alright. So after he promised not to tell Chi Fu, I told him it was Ping. Then he gave me some Dong Quai with instructions for her.

He asked if I was the father and told me not to touch her for a week after they kicked in. Damn it! I couldn't even go one day without her and now I was going to have to go a week without having sex with my toy.

I wanted to make that night last for a week, so I stayed a few hours and we did it three times.

The first time, I sucked on her breasts and pleasured her with my mouth before we had sex. I know she absolutely loves it when I do that. I teased her and took my time with it, snaking my tongue around her clit but not on it. She moaned and begged until I put my hand over her mouth and locked my tongue and lips right over it. I licked and sucked on it until her body spasmed in sheer pleasure.

When I finally pushed into her, it was harder and faster than I'd ever done before.

After we both climaxed, I stayed laying over her. She looked confused that I didn't get up and leave like I usually did.

"I want you more than once tonight, since it's going to be several days before we can do this again." I stayed over her, kissing and touching her for several minutes.

Once I was ready again, I had her turn over onto her stomach and then entered her that way. We hadn't tried that before, and it was definitely fun. As I slammed into her, I kissed her shoulders and the back of her neck. Then I planted kisses down her spine, which drove her nuts, I could tell. I stuck my finger up her back passage as I slammed her from behind and she had to bite on her blanket to stay quiet.

Afterwards, she turned back over and we kissed and touched some more until I got an erection again. I turned onto my back and pulled her over me. She pushed onto me until I was completely inside her. While she moved over me, I caressed her breasts. Then I started chasing her bouncing nipples with my mouth while my hands massaged her butt cheeks and I stuck my finger in her ass again.

When we were both starting to get close, she leaned down and locked her lips on mine to avoid making noise.

I was spent. "You wore me out. I think I'm going to go to my tent and go to sleep. One of these days, I'll stick more than just my finger up there." I wanted to try it. I was really curious what it would feel like. She had promised we'd always have sex however I wanted.

"Hmmm… I might like that."

I grinned at her, not really caring if she would like it or not.

Before I left, I made sure she knew what to do with the herb and told her not to worry about showing up for training for the next week. I reminded her that the medic wanted her to take it easy while she was miscarrying.

I was surprised when I saw her line up for training in the morning. I shot her a questioning look, but she just shook her head and shrugged her shoulders. I sure hope this works. I didn't want to take a pregnant soldier into battle, and I certainly didn't want anyone else to know what was going on. After our long morning run, she waved at me and ran to her tent, doubled over. I saw her stop and puke on the way. So it must be kicking in.

Good. Her pregnancy would be over and I wouldn't have to worry about it progressing and showing.

Later that day, I brought her some dinner. She looked as if she might throw it up, but managed to keep it down. I left before I could be tempted to put my hands on her again. This was gonna be a hard 7 days.

The next morning, I saw her at the pond bathing and washing her uniform. It was bloody. Very bloody. But she insisted she was fine, and that the medic had told her the induced miscarriage was going alright.

After leaving the pond, I went and talked to the medic about how much she was bleeding. He was already aware, and said she was okay and he was keeping a close eye on her. Then his eyes locked on mine.

"I'm going to keep this secret from everyone else here, because you ordered me to. But I will tell you I think this is underhanded and dishonorable. You realize that's Fa Zhou's daughter, do you not?"

"Yes, sir, I knew that. I just need you to take care of her pregnancy for me, not question my actions as her commanding officer."

"So you need me to help you cover up your mistake? Your father behaved the same way whenever there was a female soldier under his command. I told him the same thing each time, and he always gave me the near exact reply you did. I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. How do you think Fa Zhou would feel if he knew about this?"

"He'd be furious and probably find the strength to beat me up. But he's not going to find out, correct?" I glared at him, just daring him to tell her family. I'm sure she didn't want them to know she was her captain's sex toy, either.

"And you would deserve it."

I glared at him again and left. I knew he was right. Telling her she had to have sex with me to stay alive was wrong, very wrong, and he minced no words in pointing that out to me. Nevertheless, I had no plans to change what I was doing. She was my sex toy by choice.

She stayed away from training for the whole 7 days, as instructed. I only saw her in the morning when I went to bathe or when I brought food to her. Otherwise she stayed in her tent because of the heavy bleeding. I brought her another training uniform and mat, because everything was getting blood soaked. The other soldiers asked about her, but I told them she was contagious and couldn't have visitors.

The medic had to leave for a day on what he said was family business. It briefly crossed my mind that he might leave and tell Mulan's family about her pregnancy and what I was doing, but I dismissed it. He'd been ordered to secrecy, after all.

Finally, the seven days were up. When I came to the pond that morning, she was already there. I wrapped my arms around her and kissed her with the hunger of a man who hadn't seen a meal in a month. Breaking loose from my kiss, she pointed towards a large rock in the pond. I picked her up and sat her on the rock ledge. She grabbed me and pulled me close to her and moaned rather loudly as I entered her. Pressing her back against the rock, I slammed into her like my life would end if I didn't. We both buried our faces in each other's hair to cover the sounds we made as our pleasure reached the flash point.

Then we both got dressed and got the day started. She came back to training, but didn't quite have the push she had before. She still excelled, but the blood loss must have been wearing her out. I excused her from the long mountain runs for the time being. I couldn't have her being too tired to please me, after all.

Before leaving her tent that night, I told her I wanted to marry her. I had been thinking about it quite a bit over the last week. She couldn't marry anybody else, and I liked the way she satisfied me.

Then she told me about how no man in her village wanted her because she failed the Matchmaker's test by spilling tea all over and setting the Matchmaker's dress on fire, then putting it out by dumping an entire pot of tea over her head. I laughed and kissed her and told her I already knew she had what it took to be a great wife, but she looked doubtful. I knew that she had given up her virginity to me and couldn't marry anyone else, because they would discover this and her family would be dishonored. Marrying her was what would be called "doing the honorable thing".

I started having a recurring nightmare about an orphaned toddler wandering the frozen Pass at night looking for his soldier parents, but they were dead. Another nightmare was of Mulan holding a small infant and being chased by Huns who overtook her and killed her while I helplessly watched, my own Hun captors not allowing me to help her.

We made the right decision, I told myself, to terminate her wartime pregnancy. But, I still felt guilty that our child never got the chance to be born.

A week after she came back to training, we got a message from my father stating we were needed to join him at the Tung Shou Pass.


	3. Chapter 3

**If anyone had tried to read this chapter around 6/21-6/23 and found it difficult due to the extra characters that showed up, I apologize. I decided to check back on the changes I'd made and saw the problem and fixed it right away.**

Mulan's POV

A message arrived to the camp requesting Captain Li's regiment come to the Tung Shao pass to assist his father's army in fighting the Huns. It would take a week to get there. I hoped I would be up for it. The induced miscarriage had caused me to lose a lot of blood and I felt tired. Knowing I wasn't up to par, the captain had me ride on Khan. The other soldiers knew I'd been sick, but obviously not why. To all of them, I was Fa Ping, a man.

After breaking camp, we set off. Each night that we camped, Captain Li still snuck into my tent, but it was quite nerve-wracking since we were in closer quarters with other tents than we had been at Wu Zhong. I was pretty nervous, but the huge risk of it was pretty tantalizing, too. Only a whore would enjoy this.

No one gave me a hard time about riding, but instead they sang about girls worth fighting for. When that song was done, they sang about food, then sang every tavern drinking song they'd ever heard. When they all started telling stories about girls, I tried to slink away. It didn't work and they started asking me for my stories. I hemmed and hawed, not sure what to say. Should I make something up to get them off my back?

Captain Li, who had been quiet for the whole conversation, came to my rescue. "I think Ping here doesn't have any girl stories because he's never been with one, have you Ping?"

I tried to act embarrassed. "Nope, you got me. I've never been with a girl." That was certainly true.

Leave it to Yao to jump in. "Well, the first brothel we pass, you're going in and having yourself one." Fantastic.

I pretended to smile and glanced at Captain Li for help again. He obliged. "Nope, there isn't any brothels near here, gentleman. But we're bound to find one, eventually." Great. What would I do, then? Pay a lady to keep my secret and lie for me? Or maybe pretend to be sick? Or experience what it was like to be with a woman? I didn't have to wonder long. We came upon a brothel later that same day. As my comrades had promised, I was pushed into a room with a beautiful woman who thought I was a man.

I whispered to her that I was really a woman and that none of my comrades knew, only my captain. She asked if I wanted to experience being with another woman. Curiosity got the best of me, so I said yes, that I'd never been with another woman, but wanted to try it.

She expertly pulled my armor off and within moments, we were both naked. I couldn't take my eyes off of her beautiful body. She caressed and sucked on my breasts, so I did the same to her. I remembered the way Captain Li pleasured me with his mouth, so I drug my tongue down her chest and stomach until I reached her heat. Then I inserted three fingers into her wetness and she moaned. I loved the way she was so wet and soft and her muscles tightened around my fingers. As my tongue danced over her swollen clit, she gasped. I decided I really liked the taste and feel of a woman.

"Are you sure you've never been with a woman before?"

"I have sex with my captain every day, and this is what he does to me, sometimes."

"Why do you have sex with your captain every day?"

"So I could stay alive and keep my father from being drafted. He told me if I let him have me whenever he wanted, he wouldn't kill me."

"Well, you're pretty good at it." She turned so that she could return the favor and we both pleasured each other with our mouths and fingers. I loved the feeling of giving and receiving at the same time. My tongue continued its dance over her swollen clit and I continued to jam my fingers into her until we both gave each other an intense orgasm. Not having to wait for anybody to get an erection, we went at it again and again. Before I left, she told me if I needed work, that I'd always be welcome to work at her brothel. It turned out she ran it.

"Thanks. I'm planning to marry my captain, but if for some reason I don't, I'll have to come here. It really wouldn't be any different from what I do now."

"Well, if you're ever nearby again, come visit me. I would love to see you again." We shared one last kiss, then I had to leave.

I guess I was the last one out, because everybody cheered me when I finally left her room.

"Sounds like you must have been doing something right, Ping." Yao elbowed me in the ribs. Captain Li raised his eyebrows at me, and I grinned at him and licked my lips. Later that night, when he came to my tent, I told him what happened. After I described it to him, he was the one grinning.

"That sounds hot! Next time, I want to join, too. You still want my cock, don't you?"

I pushed my body up against his. "Oh, yeah." So, now I enjoyed being with both men and women. That night, I did get plenty of pleasure from Captain Li, but I found myself thinking about that prostitute as well. After he left, I touched myself and thought about her.

Back on the road, the soldiers all told stories about the brothel, and bugged me for mine. I didn't tell them much, except that I made her nearly scream. That got me lots of slaps on the back. I looked at Captain Li and laughed and shook my head. They had no idea.

When the smell of smoke and burned flesh assaulted our senses, we fell silent. A village stood before us, burned to the ground. Bodies of the villagers were all over.

"Search for survivors!" There didn't appear to be any. Everybody was dead.

I found the battered body of a girl about my age, naked, laying in the snow. She was covered with bruises and her throat was cut. She had bled from being raped, probably by multiple Hun soldiers. My eyes burned with tears and I squelched the urge to vomit as I quickly dug a blanket out of my pack and wrapped her up in it. I could handle being colder at night so I could give her some dignity in death.

What this young lady's last moments must have been like... I could only hope I would never have to experience such horror.

I wished I could bury her, but we couldn't spare the time it would take to bury all these people. I knelt and said a prayer for the young woman, with tears running down my cheeks. Standing up, I saw Captain Li kneeling in the snow by the valley. He was staring at a helmet in his hands. It was his father's. General Li and the entire imperial army were dead, ambushed and slaughtered by the Huns.

I could see the bodies of the fallen soldiers scattered all over the valley next to the village. Captain Li's recruits were all that was left between Shan Yu's army and the Emperor.

I'm sorry." I walked over to where he knelt. He had driven his father's sword into the ground and placed the helmet over it. He stood and quietly placed his hand on my shoulder. I saw tears in his eyes, and it looked like he was fighting for control of his emotions.

Then, walking to his horse, he grabbed onto the saddle and shut his eyes, then jumped up.

"The Huns are moving quickly. We'll make better time to the Imperial City through the Tung Shou Pass. We're the only hope for the emperor now. Move out!"

It was a very subdued regiment of soldiers that trekked along now. No one sang. Captain Li stared ahead sadly, likely thinking about his father.

After about an hour, the air suddenly came alive with arrows. The Huns were ambushing us! From a slope above them, Huns rained fiery arrows down on me and my fellow soldiers. We raced to get the cannons safe and then get out of range of the onslaught. This must be how they defeated General Li's army.

"Fire!" Captain Li had us fire the cannons at the Hun archers who were perched up on a slope firing at us. Then, only one cannon remained. The slope was strangely still. Through the fading cannon smoke, I could make out the form of Shan Yu and thousands of Hun soldiers ready to descend on us. With a loud, sickening battle cry, they started towards our hopelessly outnumbered Chinese army regiment.

"Prepare to fight! If we die, we die with honor!" He caught my eye and mouthed "I love you". Did he just tell me he loved me? Astonished, I mouthed it back. We both knew we were all about to die. China would fall. After they defeated our regiment, the Imperial City was next. There would be no more Imperial Army to protect the Emperor from the Huns.

"Yao, aim the cannon at Shan Yu."

Staring at my sword, I hoped I would die quickly before any of the Huns figured out I was female. I didn't want to suffer the same fate as the young woman I had wrapped in my blanket earlier in the day./

Suddenly, my eye caught the reflection on the sword. A steep slope loomed over the valley that lay between us and the charging enemy. If a cannon were to hit it and explode, a deluge of snow would be released on the Huns.

In a split second, I'd made my decision and shoved Yao away from the last cannon. Sprinting up the slope ahead, I muttered a quick prayer to the ancestors that this would work. We were all dying, anyway, so what did we have to lose? I could hear Captain Li calling me to come back, but I ignored his order for the first time ever.

Stopping at a good spot to fire it, I set down the cannon and began to try to light it with my flint and steel. Just as Shan Yu was approaching, I fired it at the slope above. A huge amount of snow began to slide down it as his horse reared up and he watched his army being buried.

Suddenly, I found myself on the receiving end of the giant warrior's rage. With a hideous battle cry, he swung his sword at me, carving a painful slice into my side. I took off running, jumping on Khan as he ran towards me.

Captain Li had been running behind me, and now was starting to get dragged under by the avalanche. With a strength that seemed to come out of nowhere, I grabbed him and slung him across Khan's back. He was unconscious from lack of air after nearly being pulled under by the frozen tidal wave.

The avalanche carried Khan and the two of us on it close to the edge of the cliff. It looked like we were all going to die, but at least we took the Huns out with us.

Just before we went over, an arrow attached to a rope landed in front of me. I tied one end to Khan's saddle and shot the arrow back to my comrades. Then I felt them pulling us up to safety and tried to wake up the captain. As Khan stepped up onto the snow, I climbed onto the cliff as other soldiers pulled a just waking Captain Li onto the ground.

"Step back guys, give 'em some air."

Captain Li sat up, still trying to catch his breath and looked at me.

"Ping, you are the craziest man I ever met. And for that, I owe you my life. From now on, you have my trust."

"Let's hear it for Ping, the bravest of us all!"

"You're king of the mountain!"

"Yes, yes, yes!"

The sound of my comrades cheering for me became distant. Everything was starting to go dark. Captain Li reached a hand out to help me up, but a severe pain in my side forced me back to my knees.

"He's wounded. Get help!"

I could barely see Captain Li telling me to hold on. I tried to focus on his face, but then everything went dark. I woke up on a mat inside the medical tent, with the medic kneeling over me.

"You'll be alright, Mulan. The wound wasn't deep and I got the bleeding to stop. I know the captain already knows very well you're female, and per his request, I won't tell Chi Fu or anyone else."

Shang came in to see me after the medic was done patching me up and was updated on how I was doing. After seeing I was ok, he leaned in and kissed me.

"We'll stay here tonight and head to the Imperial City tomorrow. There may still be Huns alive."

He leaned in for another kiss, but was interrupted by the sound of a man clearing his throat. We both jumped, but it was only the medic. After the medic left, Shang snuck another kiss. Once again, we were interrupted, but this time it was by Chien Po bringing some food in for me.

"Whoa, what? What's going on here?"

Shang quickly motioned to him to be quiet, then whispered for him not to tell anyone that I was a girl or what he saw. Of all the soldiers, Chien Po was the most trustworthy with a secret. He was a serene gentle giant that would never dream of hurting me and he would certainly never tell Chi Fu. Nobody liked Chi Fu. Especially not Shang. After I ate, I laid down and Shang laid his head on my chest. I stroked his hair. I knew he was mourning his father, and didn't want to mess around with me at all.

"I miss my father."

"I know. I'm sorry."

He laid there for a long time while I ran my fingers through his hair and rubbed his back, and I noticed my tunic becoming wet with his silent tears. I didn't know what to say to him, but I had a feeling that just being here and letting him cry on my chest was enough.

"Thank you for comforting me, Mulan. It means a lot to me."

His eyes didn't have that dark, lustful look in them. It looked softer, more like... love?

It was the first time since that first day by the pond that he ever used my real name. Before the avalanche, he had mouthed the words "I love you" at me. I could feel something stirring inside me towards him as I stroked his hair.

Shang finally got up and went to his own tent after a long while. I wondered if he would sleep at all.


	4. Chapter 4

Shang's POV

I needed to get Chi Fu out of my hair. He was in my face constantly about going to the Imperial City, so I told him to go himself, to tell the emperor what happened to the main Imperial Army and with the avalanche. He took a couple of soldiers with him.

I hated that man. My father hated him, while he was still alive. In fact, I didn't know anyone who did like him. My men certainly despised him, I knew.

With the Emperor's counsel gone, I could focus on what needed to be done. We made camp and heated frozen dumplings over a large fire. I couldn't eat in the state of mind I was in, so I walked around the camp checking on everybody. I had to keep my mind busy. I was still in shock over my father's death, but I was the captain of the last remaining regiment of the Imperial Army and I had to keep a clear head and stay functional.

When I'd checked on Mulan after the medic came out of her tent and told me I could go see her, I noticed she was minus a blanket. She told me about the girl's body that she'd found at the ravaged village. She'd used her own blanket to cover up the girl and give her some dignity in death. I was proud of her selflessness and told her so. Then I brought her one of my own blankets. She needed it more than I did. If I got real cold, I'd use my cape.

Then I laid my head on her chest and told her I missed my father. While I quietly soaked her tunic with my tears, she stroked my hair and rubbed my back. That was really comforting to me. I felt something stirring inside me towards her, and it wasn't lust for once. Was I starting to feel love for her? I could tell in her eyes that she genuinely cared about me.

I don't know how long I stayed there, but it was quite a while before I finally got up and went to my own tent. If I could have, I would have stayed in her arms all night.

For once, having sex with her was the furthest thing from my mind. Usually, it was the only thing on my mind, but tonight the weight of protecting the Emperor hung heavily on me. I needed my father's advice and guidance, but he wasn't there.

I finally dropped off in exhaustion after laying on my back staring at the ceiling and thinking about my father. I know he had his faults, but he was mostly a good man and an excellent general. He was also the last family I had left, since my mother died when I was young. Now, I only had Mulan.

I had only been sleeping a little while when I felt a hand shake my shoulder. I reached up to it. "Mulan?" Why was she in my tent?

But I felt no hand there, nor did I see anyone when I opened my eyes. Thinking it was part of a dream, I went back to sleep.

I felt a hand shaking my shoulder again, this time more urgently. "Shang, wake up, son."

I opened my eyes. My father's spirit stood next to me. He looked well in his spotless general's uniform. "The Huns are alive, on their way to the palace. Go to the Imperial City now and save the emperor. You are all he has left."

I reached my hand out to him, but he vanished.

"Father?"

"Father!"

He had come back from the dead to warn me, so we could save the emperor like he had tried to. There was no time to waste. I threw my armor on and raced out, shouting orders. Within minutes, we were packed and moving out.

"How did you know, sir?", a soldier near me asked. "We'll talk about that later. Double time, let's go!" Mulan rode on Khan. She still had a miscarriage and now a battle wound to recover from.

We raced to the Imperial City. At the palace gates, we found the bodies of the Imperial Guards. "They're in the palace. Move!"

We raced to the huge doors, but they were locked. Mulan pointed to the huge columns that led to the balcony. "Hey, guys, we need to get up those." I grabbed my cape, the other soldiers used their outer robes, and we all climbed up the columns. This put us on a balcony. Seeing a door there, we stood at the ready, swords drawn. We counted to three and one soldier kicked the door open, and the rest of my regiment raced inside.

The Emperor was asleep, but at the ruckus of 40 soldiers rushing in, he woke.

Before he could speak, I told him of the direness of the situation.

"The Huns are in the palace!"

I pointed at 10 soldiers, including Mulan, to guard him, while the rest of us rushed off to find the enemy. She was safer here, hopefully, and would likely do less of the intense fighting that her body wasn't up for.

The rest of us headed out to the hallway, in search of the Huns.

It didn't take long to find them.

Shan Yu and several of his soldiers were running towards the emperor's chambers. They were outnumbered 3 to 1, but I knew not to get cocky. Huns are fierce fighters.

My men fought hard. Within moments, only Shan Yu was standing, the rest of the Huns having fallen. 30 of us had him surrounded. He angrily slashed his sword at me, but a soldier behind him ran his sword into the giant's back as another stabbed him in the neck. He turned, and with a yell, tried to slash at another soldier, but his sword was knocked from his hand. Another man swung his sword at him, cutting off his head.

"There might be more. Search the palace. 15 go east and 15 go west." We ran through the palace corridors, bearing our own swords and now the Huns' swords as well. We encountered 3 more and then 5 more, and disposed of them quicker than my company of soldiers could dispose of a pot of rice. We searched every room we passed, ensuring the emperor's family was safe. They were.

At the entrance, we met up with the rest of the company. I sent 15 up to get the emperor and the 10 soldiers guarding him. Then we searched around the palace, in the stables and nearby buildings.

Finally satisfied that the Huns had been eliminated, we made our way to the main entrance of the palace.

"How did you know the Huns were here?" The Emperor asked after he had joined us at the entrance.

I told him about the ambush and the avalanche. Then about my father's spirit appearing to me and warning the Emperor was in danger because many of the Huns had survived. I stood, with my head bowed, hoping he didn't think I was losing my mind.

"Your father gave his life protecting his country, and has continued that duty in death. Because you listened to him and acted accordingly, I am alive, General Li Shang. I am placing you in charge of the palace guard."

General Li Shang.

He had just promoted me to General. If he knew of my improper behavior with one of my soldiers that I knew to be female, I would have been court-martialed, not promoted.

But, certainly, I would not offer this incriminating information. Only the medic, Chien Po and myself knew Mulan was female. No one else needed to know.

I set up a guard inside and outside the palace, so it would be secure. The outside palace guards had been killed by the Huns, as well as most of the indoor guards.

Those off-duty set up camp just inside the gates. Before going to sleep, however, we conducted one more thorough search in and around the palace to be absolutely sure no Huns remained. Then we gratefully went to our tents. I fell asleep before my head hit the pillow.

When it was my turn to takeover watch, I sought out Mulan to guard by me outside the palace doors. I wanted to talk to her, but knowing the risks of an eavesdropper, we had to talk in code.

Long ago, we had named our agreement "rice porridge". So we talked about how rice porridge wasn't good to eat while guarding in the Imperial City. I would be here managing the palace guard for an indeterminate amount of time.

There was a higher risk her secret would be discovered if she remained on duty here, so I told her I thought she should go home. I also wanted her out of harm's way, and she was safer there.

"You're right. I've been away from home long enough. I think it's time I returned. Bummer I won't get to eat one more bowl of rice porridge before I go."

"When I'm able to leave, I'll come ask for your father's blessing then we can get married."

When I was sure no one was looking, I stole a few goodbye kisses from her. I wanted to push her against the nearest wall and rip her clothes off, but that was not an option right now. Unless I could think of a private little corner to sneak off to, that is.

When our shift was done, Mulan was headed home. But before she left, I remembered a corner of the armory that was rarely used. I brought her there under the guise of selecting an extra dagger and bow and arrows to have with her for the journey home.

As soon as I was sure we were alone, I picked her up and set her on the workbench where bows were strung. Then I wrapped my arms around her and started kissing her, my tongue slipping into her mouth.

"Shang, are you sure no one is going to catch us?"

"Pretty sure, yes."

"Ok. I hope you are right."

"Me, too."

She slid out of her lower armor and so did I, then she wrapped her arms around my shoulders and her legs around my back. My hands moved underneath her upper armor and over her breasts. I didn't know when we might be able to do this again, and didn't want to give up the chance.

"We have to be quiet. Really quiet." I whispered in her ear in between kisses on her neck.

"I know." We were used to that. We always had to be quiet. Someday, I looked forward to laying her down and making love to her without the worry of being caught. I couldn't wait to make her my wife someday, and the nagging guilt in the back of my mind that I was always trying to ignore would be gone.

I slid into her and we made love there on the bow-stringing bench of the palace armory, both of our ears tuned to the door for any movement or sounds in the outside hallway. Thankfully, no one even came down that hall.

After we both silently reached completion, I sucked on a lower part of her neck covered by armor and left a tiny mark.

"Shang! I'm gonna be wearing dresses at home. Someone's gonna see that!"

Oops, I forgot about that. The scarf of her armor covered it now, but a dress likely would not.

"Hopefully, your family won't notice it."

I continued kissing her neck and mouth as we made love a second time. I guess we shouldn't have pushed our luck, because someone walked in just as we were finishing. It was the medic.

He jumped back when he realized what was going on, and left, but not before locking eyes with me. I knew what he thought of my arrangement with Mulan, and the death glare he gave me told me he still thought my deeds despicable.

I helped Mulan down and we quickly pulled our clothes back on. I could tell she was mortified at being caught by the bright red on her cheeks. We hurried out to the hallway and made our way back outside.

"I'm sorry," I whispered "I should have just let one time be enough."

"At least it wasn't Chi Fu."

I agreed. "That would have been a disaster."

We headed outside to where Khan was tied and ready to go. I told the other soldiers she was leaving due to her injury from Shan Yu. No one else knew the real reason. To all of them except the medic and Chien Po, she was still a male soldier named Fa Ping.

She said goodbye to Yao, Ling and Chien Po. The four of them had been inseparable, and they hated to see her go.

Then she said goodbye to me and took off towards home.

Watching her go was heartbreaking. I had fallen in love with her, somehow. I think it happened the night she comforted me after my father's death. I knew I would hopefully be reunited with her soon, and we would be married.

I just hoped it wouldn't be too long before I could get away. It wasn't just about the sex that I knew I was going to miss. It was her, all of her, that I hated to be away from. She was the bravest and most beautiful woman I had ever met.

I never dreamed I would find love at an army camp, but that's exactly what happened.

A messenger came to bring me to see the Emperor. He bestowed on me the official title of General and gave me one week off. I could leave in the morning after ensuring the palace guard was arranged during my absence.

I would be able to see Mulan tomorrow night! I couldn't believe I'd be able to see her again so soon, and thanked the Emperor for the time off he was giving me. I had thought for sure it would be weeks that I would end up being away from her.


	5. Chapter 5

It was so unbelievably hard to leave Shang. Tears ran down my cheeks as I cantered away with Khan. As happy as I was to be heading home, alive, I hadn't really wanted to leave. But I knew Shang was right that I needed to go. The chances of discovery were high in the Imperial City. He didn't say so, but I had a feeling he wanted me away from the army and home safe with my family.

We would be married soon, and I understood he didn't want me in the military now. Not only because of the risks that always come with being a soldier, but because my discovery by the wrong person, such as Chi Fu, could bring about my death. He had been able to protect my identity this far, but it wasn't always guaranteed, especially while doing palace guard.

After riding through the palace gates, I decided to go visit my prostitute friend before going home. She recognized me right away and led me to her room. As soon as she shut the door, we ripped each other's clothes off in between hot, feverish kisses. After we were both laying on the bed, I began sucking on her nipples. She closed her eyes and moaned. Then I inserted two fingers into her hot, soft wetness and began pumping in and out of her while continuing to suck on her breasts. I kissed down her abdomen until I was face to face with her beautiful heat. Then I licked and sucked and fingered her until she orgasmed wildly under my touch. How I loved being with a woman! Then my friend pushed me down on the bed and it was my turn. Her tongue and her fingers felt amazing as I laid there, getting closer and closer to a climax. Finally, my body arched and jerked as my lover brought me to an orgasm. We each pleasured the other a couple more times, but I really needed to continue on my journey home. Just before I left her room, she pushed me against the wall, grabbed my breasts and kissed me and told me not to forget her. I promised I wouldn't.

I thought about Shang the entire 12 hour ride home. I remembered thinking how handsome he was when he took his shirt off the first day of training, and how tough of a commander he was.

I recalled how scared I was when I'd looked up and seen him staring at me after I'd gotten out of the pond, knowing he'd just seen me naked and my secret was out. Then I remembered the very first time I had sex with him, shortly after my discovery.

The little nagger in the back of my head resurfaced as I thought about that day, the voice that told me Shang was a nefarious, perverted creep. What he did wasn't right, and I'd known that all along. But it's not like I could have argued with him about it. He'd made it clear. Either I had sex with him or I would die by his hand as dictated by the law.

I'd willingly gone along with it, knowing that if he killed me, my father would be forced to come take my place. For weeks, I had felt like a filthy, disgusting whore. Then as I started to enjoy having sex with him, I was able to squash those feelings down more.

But, every so often they would resurface and I'd realize how my actions would effect the rest of my life. I'd remember that only a whore gives herself away for something in return.

Even though I knew his actions had been more than questionable, I'd still fallen in love with him. But, I couldn't help but wonder exactly *why* I loved him.

I didn't think I could ever forgive him for forcing me to choose between giving up my honor and protecting my father or giving up my life and having my father still be drafted. The more I thought about it, the more I realized how angry I was at the difficult situation he put me in. I still loved him, but being away from him and the rest of the army was allowing me to see the truth about his actions more clearly. I'll still marry him, but some day I hoped to have the courage to tell him how I felt.

It wouldn't do me any good to dwell on any of that right now. I'd arrived at my village and it was time to face my family.

I hesitated by the gate to my home. I had been gone 6 months. I was a completely different woman now, no longer innocent and naive. I had seen things in battle I could never forget. I was no longer a virgin after having sex with my captain every day for months.

Taking a deep breath, I pushed it open and walked in with Khan. I didn't immediately see any of my family, so I led Khan to the water trough and washed him down, then gave him some hay and let him drink. My father had taught me that caring for a horse always had to be top priority whenever I arrived somewhere.

"We've been through a lot, haven't we, boy?" I had always loved horses, especially Khan.

My mount taken care of, I walked through the door. Mama gasped and dropped the towel she had in her hand and ran over to hug me so tight I almost couldn't breathe. I felt her tears land on my head as she cried.

"Li, is everything alright?" It was my father. His eyes widened at the sight of me and he walked over to where Mama was still hugging me and put his arms around both of us.

Grandma Fa walked out to see me and put her arms around me. She cried, too.

Mama stepped back and looked at me. "You look famished, child. Let me get you some food." I was still pale from the miscarriage and blood loss, and the wound from Shan Yu had made it worse. I'll tell them about the wound, but never about the miscarriage. There was no point in them knowing anything that had happened at Wu Zhong. Shang and I would be married whenever he could get away from the Imperial City for a week or two.

I went to my room to change out of my armor. It was just the way I'd left it the night I snuck out to join the army.

The slash across my side and part of my abdomen was scabbed over and healing. I cleaned it and rewrapped the bandage around it so nothing would rub against it.

I pulled on one of my dresses, one that covered that little mark Shang left on my neck in the armory. It was a relief not to have to bandage my breasts anymore. My normal clothes felt strange after months of wearing only training uniforms and armor. I left my hair down and even that felt odd after months of tying it up. It had grown some while I'd been in the army, but it was still quite short.

Remembering the Dong Quai I'd left in Khan's saddle bag, I quickly walked out to the stable to hide it. I didn't want my parents to find it. Then they might figure out I wasn't the pure, honorable daughter who'd left here 6 months ago.

Hiding it had gotten me thinking about Shang again. I hoped my father would give his blessing for us to marry. What if I didn't marry Shang? I would have to stay single or run away again and work at a brothel, because I couldn't marry another man. They would realize I wasn't a virgin and I would be forever outcast from my village and my family permanently dishonored.

I decided that, if for some reason I didn't marry him, I'd take my own life before I'd let any dishonor come to my family as a result of the decisions I'd made in the army.

Or else I would run away and join a brothel.

The sound of my father calling my name startled me out of my thoughts. I hiked up my skirts and ran out of the stable.

During supper, they asked me about my time in the army and about defeating the Huns. I told them about causing the avalanche and getting wounded by Shan Yu's sword, but that I was healing well.

I told them about how Shang's father had been killed when the Huns ambushed the main Imperial army. They were intrigued when I relayed how Shang's father had appeared in spirit form to warn him that the Huns were alive.

Papa asked me if anyone had found out I was a girl. I almost said no, but thought better of it. Eventually, Shang was going to come ask my father for his blessing to marry me.

I decided to tell them that my captain did know, but that because I'd gone in my father's place he understood and didn't follow the law.

Papa took a deep breath, then stood up and limped out of the house. Grandma turned her head away and after a moment, went to the temple. I was left with Mama, who looked like she wanted to say something but instead quietly stared at me. I felt as if my secret was written on my forehead. Could she see right through me? Could they all see right through me? I was baffled at their reactions.

I suddenly remembered the medic leaving on "family business" right after my induced miscarriage. No, it couldn't be. He wouldn't have come here and told them, would he? I dismissed that thought. Shang had ordered him to secrecy about the whole matter.

"He allowed you to stay, even though he knew you were a woman?"

"Yes, Mama. He knew I was there to save my father."

"Did he make you do anything so he would keep your secret?"

"No, Mama. He didn't." I hated lying to her, but I was afraid of the consequences of telling her the truth. What if they disowned me? I was certain that they would. Would my father kill Shang?

"Are you sure? "

"Yes, Mama. "

At that, she joined my father outside. Left alone in the dining room, I cleared the table and washed the dishes. Then I went outside to care for Khan. Why were they asking about this?

While I was in the stable, my father came in and stood by me while I brushed the stallion. He didn't say anything right away, just watched me.

"Captains don't just let women stay in the army for free. I spent enough time in the army to know that. I fought alongside the late General Li. When he discovered a female soldier in his ranks, he told her she had to have sex with him to stay alive. His son would likely not be any different. What happened, Mulan? Did you have sex with your commanding officer?"

"No, Papa. Nothing happened. I'm going to bed now."

"Mulan, don't lie to me."

"I'm not, Papa."

He watched me leave the stable and I knew he didn't believe me. My father was very intuitive and intelligent. However, I wasn't ready to confess my actions. Not yet. I couldn't look him in the eye and tell him what a whore I was. That his daughter had agreed to be her captain's plaything to stay alive.

Laying on my bed, with Little Brother next to me, I hoped all would turn out ok. When Shang did come, I knew my father would confront him. I just hoped it wouldn't get ugly.

I looked up as Grandma Fa came into my room and sat on my bed. She stroked my hair for a moment.

"I'm so glad you're home, Mulan. We missed you so much, every day. We worried that you would be discovered and killed, or that you would be killed by the Huns. Don't ever run away in the middle of the night again."

I couldn't promise I would never run away again.

"I'm glad to be home, too, Grandma. I missed all of you so much."

"Did you make any friends or did you keep to yourself?"

I told her about how I got bullied at first, and failed at everything until I climbed the pole and retrieved the captain's arrow. She looked impressed when I told her about kicking him in the jaw and knocking him down. She laughed when I told her about my 3 friends' antics and how they finally accepted me.

"So did any of your three friends know you were a girl?"

"Only one of them, Chien Po. He's a gentle giant and a really good guy. I don't think there's a mean bone in him. He wouldn't have told anyone else and he never would have hurt me. He's like a big brother. "

"Anybody else know?"

"Just the medic. He didn't tell anyone. I had to see him a couple times after getting injured in training and he also stitched up the wound I got from Shan Yu's sword."

"How did your captain find out you were a girl?"

Uh oh... Now I had to think fast and come up with something. I didn't want to tell her how it really happened, that he had seen me naked at the pond.

"Part of my armor came off when we were sparring during training and he saw the bandages I used to cover my chest. I put it right back on and told him I'd joined in Papa's place. He said he understood because he loved his father, too, and that he wouldn't tell anyone else. I don't think he was angry."

"How did you know he wasn't angry that you deceived him? The law says he has to kill you, but he decided to break the law and let you live?"

"Yes, Grandma."

"Why do you think he did that?"

"I don't know. Maybe cuz he didn't want to kill me."

I knew she was fishing for a confession that something had happened between Shang and I.

"Grandma, I'm tired. I'm going to go to sleep now. Good night."

"Good night, Mulan."

She walked out and I heard her talking to my parents. "She says nothing happened between her and the captain. Maybe she's telling us the truth."

"I doubt it". That was my father.

Then I heard Mama. "Well, if anything did happen, she's not going to tell us. I can see that. We better just leave it alone, at least for now."

I breathed a sigh of relief. Good. They were going to stop interrogating me about what I did or didn't do with my commanding officer. But why were they so certain about what I had done?

After everyone else was asleep, I slipped my hand down to my heat and thought about Shang and the woman from the brothel as I touched myself. The feel of my own wetness made me crave a woman again, even as I thought about Shang's length being inside me. My fingers moved over my swollen clit until I finally reached an orgasm, and fell right to sleep. If only I could have slept in Shang's arms.

The next morning, I was up before dawn. I felt restless, so I put on my training uniform, tied my hair up and practiced martial arts. Then I ran several laps around the estate. I missed the daily routine at Wu Zhong. I finally ate breakfast after putting on a dress again. I was beginning to hate wearing a dress, but that was what my life called for now.

Wanting to avoid my family, I went out to wash down Khan again and look after the chickens. I had cleaned Khan's stall and the chicken coop and was washing Little Brother that evening when I heard a knock and the gate opened.

It was Shang. I hadn't expected to see him so soon, thinking it would be weeks before he'd be able to get away.

I led him to the barn. We wrapped our arms around each other and kissed for a few minutes. He started to push me against a pole, but I pulled back and told him we couldn't get too carried away. My family could walk in at any moment. He nodded in understanding and pulled away. I wished we could have snuck off and had sex somewhere, but that would not have been a good idea.

While he tended his horse, I told him about my family questioning me and warned him my father would most likely talk to him. I told him the story I told Grandma about how he found out, so he would say the same thing.

He looked nervous about meeting my family, probably because he knew he would be under scrutiny. I was anxious about what my father might say to him when it was just the two of them.

We walked to the house. I took a deep breath and nervously brought him inside with me. My parents stood up when we came in.

"Mama, Papa, this is General Li Shang. He was my commanding officer in the army."

They looked at each other, then back at Shang and at each other again. I saw my father nod at my mother and she turned to Shang.

"Would you like to stay for dinner?"

"That'd be great!"

"Mulan, come help me with supper."

Taking me by the arm, she practically dragged me to the kitchen. I knew my father was going to walk somewhere with Shang and grill him.

Mama was mostly quiet while we fixed supper, but I saw her glance outside several times.

"You are telling us the truth, aren't you, Mulan?"

"Yes, Mama."

When supper was ready and we called them to come inside, I was relieved to see Shang didn't have a black eye, but I noticed my father wasn't smiling. But he didn't look angry, either, just somber.


	6. Chapter 6

Shang's POV

After I got the palace guard in place, I was given some days off. I decided right away to visit Mulan. It was a 12 hour ride. That gave me time to think.

When we'd first started having sex, I'd seen her as little more than a plaything. I didn't care about her feelings at all, only about her meeting my needs. She had the strong desire to keep her father alive, and I had used that to my own advantage. At home, I had become accustomed to my father's concubines. Every night, I'd bring one to my room and had badly missed that. While being away at army camp, I'd longed to be with a woman again. I jumped at the chance to take advantage of Mulan's situation.

Gradually, I'd started to recognize she was a human being. Then when she comforted me so much after my father's death, I'd realized I felt love for her.

The realization of how badly I had acted was beginning to hit me. Was Mulan angry with me for this? I was angry and disgusted at my own lack of self-control.

I hoped to be able to ask her father for her hand. I knew I would likely be questioned about how I had discovered her gender and how I dealt with it. I knew she wouldn't intentionally offer any information about our agreement, but what if they figured it out? What if that medic had visited and told them what I was making Mulan do to stay alive?

Her father may be angry with me, very angry. I really wanted to see her again, so I decided it was a risk I was willing to take.

When I got to her house, she showed me where the stable was. As soon as we were inside we were in each other's arms, kissing for a few minutes. I started to push her up against a pole, but she told me to cool it. Her family could walk in any moment. It was not gonna be easy to keep my hands off of her, but I didn't have a choice. Now was an excellent time to practice some self-control.

While I cared for my horse, she briefed me on what her parents had been asking her and her answers. They had been grilling her about whether or not anything had happened between us. She told me what her story had been about how I'd discovered she was a girl, so we'd both have the same story.

She took me in the house and introduced me to them. Her mother invited me for supper, then drug Mulan off to the kitchen with her. That left me alone with Fa Zhou, who was looking at me with a rather solemn expression that I had a difficult time reading.

He suggested we walk outside. He walked with a limp and used a crutch, but stood tall and proud. Once we got to the stone bench in the garden, he sat down and motioned for me to sit as well.

"I thank you, General, for sparing my daughter's life when you discovered her secret. Tell me, why did you choose to go against the law?"

"She was my best soldier. Her first few weeks there, she failed miserably at everything. I had finally told her she needed to go home one night after she failed to keep up during a long run.

Up until that point, no one had been able to retrieve the arrow from the pole. But the next morning when I came out of my tent, she was sitting on the top with the weights on her shoulder and threw the arrow at my feet.

After that, she excelled at nearly everything she did. The rest of the men were inspired by her, because she was the youngest and smallest.

When her armor came off during a spar and I discovered her secret, she told me she had come in your place. I could tell how much she loves you. I would have done the same for my father. Knowing that, I couldn't bring myself to carry out the law. So I let her stay and she kept on being Ping, which was her boy name."

"So you let her stay without any conditions?"

"Yes, sir."

"There wasn't anything extra she had to do to persuade you to keep her secret for her?"

"No, sir."

"Nothing extra at all?"

"No, sir."

He looked at me silently, as if deciding whether or not to believe me.

"All my years in the army have told me commanding officers with females in their ranks usually behave differently, your father included, but I'll take you at your word."

"Thank you, sir."

So he knew of my father's behavior?

"Tell me, General Li Shang, why did you come here today?"

"I would like to marry your daughter and have come seeking your blessing."

At that, he studied me for a long moment. I swallowed hard under his intense stare. I suddenly remembered my father once talking about how this man was an excellent judge of character, and incredibly intuitive. I began to wonder what he saw as he regarded me.

"You have my blessing, if she is willing to marry you."

"Thank you, sir. I did speak to her about marriage already and she is willing."

"Before she joined the army, she didn't believe in herself at all. Now there is a confidence in her I never thought I'd see. This morning, before she even ate breakfast, she practiced martial arts, ran laps and tended the horse. Then she cleaned his stall and the chicken coop and bathed the dog. It used to be difficult to get her to do chores at all. I think army life was good for her. But I'm not sure how she is going to transition back into a woman's role. She failed miserably at the Matchmaker's and we'd given up hope of her ever marrying."

When we went inside, Mulan looked at me questioningly. I smiled at her to signal that everything was ok. She gave me a relieved smile back. She took my hand and we went outside.

"How long can you stay here?"

"I have 6 days before I need to be back in the Imperial City."

"What if we got married tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow?"

"We both love each other, so what's the point in waiting to get married? Besides, we both know there's certain activities we can't do here unless we are married."

"We can live here if we need to, can't we, until I get a permanent home near the Imperial City?"

"I think so."

We walked back into the house and told her family that we wanted to be married the next day. Her mother and grandmother looked surprised, but Fa Zhou did not. He told the others that I had asked for his blessing and he had given it.

We had a small ceremony the next day, with just her family and a few close friends. I had no more family left to come. My father had been the last of my family and now he was gone. I hoped that he was watching over us.

I finally felt like I had made everything right between us. At least, I thought I did. Maybe not everything.

I wondered if Mulan was angry with me for the situation I had put her in. When I asked her the morning of our wedding, she changed the subject.

Either she didn't want to talk about it at that time and in her family's possible earshot or she had strong feelings she wasn't ready to express. I sensed it was probably both.


	7. Chapter 7

Mulan's POV

Our wedding night. It would be an understatement to say it was incredible.

We'd been secretly having sex for weeks at Wu Zhong; in my tent mostly, but even the pond. Ever since Shang had seen me naked getting out of the pond and told me if I slept with him, he wouldn't kill me, we'd been intimate nearly every day we'd been together. I won't deny it, that was a terrible thing to do. I'd been nervous and unsure about our arrangement at first and I felt like a dirty whore, letting my captain have me whenever he wanted. I'd hated the difficult situation he'd put me in.

I couldn't bring myself to express to him how I felt. But, I knew I was angry over his demands and that it would eventually erupt.

Even though everything about an army captain having relations with his soldier was wrong, after a while I'd enjoyed it. I knew the feeling of being a dirty whore was still there, but I ignored it.

Our wedding had been simple and small, thrown together in a day. When we finally were alone in our bridal chamber that night, he gave me a huge grin. No more sneaking around hoping not to get caught, no more having to be nearly completely silent, no more worrying about knocking a tent over. And no more abortion herbs. If I got pregnant again, it wouldn't be cause for panic.

I had longed for the chance to stay in his arms all night, and now I finally could.

He had his robe off quicker than you could say Kung Fu. I took my slow, sweet time with taking off the layers of my clothes. He loves to watch me get undressed, and always has. When we first started having sex at Wu Zhong, I was very uncomfortable with him watching me. Eventually, when I discovered he enjoyed it so much, I got used to it. Then I started having fun with it, dragging it out and driving him nuts.

So now I make it take a long time, especially when I know he is really anticipating having sex. I tossed my sash at him and let him hold it up to his nose for a minute and breath in my scent, then slowly peeled off another layer and threw it at him. Eventually, I was completely naked and climbed on the bed next to him.

As always, his attention went right to my breasts. He moved back and forth between them, licking and sucking and biting, as I ran my fingers through his hair.

I wasn't expecting what he did next, even though I knew he loved to make me crazy by putting his mouth on me. He made a little trail of bites and kisses down my belly. Then he went down to my knee and dragged his tongue all the way up the inner part of my thigh. He flicked my nub a couple times with his tongue, causing me to gasp and grab his hair. Then he drug his tongue up my inner thigh on the other side. Finally, he buried his face in my heat and gave the nub his complete attention. I tightened my hold on his hair as he licked and sucked and jammed his fingers into me. He kept this up until my fingers tightened on his hair even more, my back and neck arched wildly and I let out a scream, totally forgetting there were other people in the house.

Then Shang pulled himself up and over top of me. After cumming so hard, he felt incredible as he pushed inside of me. I tasted myself on him as our tongues found each others. I loved that. His thrusts shook my whole body until pleasure crashed over both of us like a rogue wave. Then he rolled on his side and we held each other as we caught our breath.

Never would I have thought this solemn, serious army General could be such a wild and intense lover. He was usually so disciplined, so controlled. I got to see a side of him no one else did.

Nope, we didn't sleep much that night. Or rather, that week between when we got married and when he had to return to the Imperial City. We were married now and there was no more keeping secrets about what we did together, so we made the most of it.

"Remember the night we knocked my tent over?" I laughed as I reminded him of the night we'd gotten a little carried away. It had been the first night we'd been able to have sex after being restricted for a week because of the herbal miscarriage. My tent was set away from everyone else's, so no one heard it we don't think. We'd had wild sex that morning in the pond, but it still wasn't enough. When he'd come to my tent that night, we'd yanked each other's clothes off and gotten right to it. Partly through, Shang had decided to flip onto his back and pull me on top of him. But he had forgotten that my tent was smaller than his and rolled right into the side of it, making it collapse. He'd rolled us back over and reached up and fixed it without even pulling out. How he managed that, I'm still not sure. But we'd quietly laughed about it until he went back to his tent.

"You mean the night I did this?" He pushed me onto my back and pushed in, then flipped to his back, pulling me over him. "Yup, that would be the move that knocked my tent over."

This time, we didn't knock anything over. As I moved over him, his hands wandered between caressing my breasts and massaging my ass. His mouth chased my bouncing breasts as he tried to catch my nipples with his tongue. Then, because he knew I loved it, he stuck his finger up inside my back passage. This drove me wild and I soon crashed down on him with an intense orgasm. He groaned my name as his own orgasm hit him.

Right before we decided to get up and get dressed the next morning, I realized something. My mother might come in here and inspect the sheets looking for evidence of whether or not I was a virgin before last night. They had been questioning me about whether or not anything had happened between my captain and me after he discovered I was female, and they didn't seem to believe me when I told them nothing happened. Perhaps I was a bad liar or maybe the medic came here and told them or they were just suspicious.

I grabbed a dagger from Shang's armor and sliced my finger a tiny bit. I laid down on the bed naked and let the blood drip onto the bedsheet between my legs at about where I thought it would have stained the sheet had I been a virgin. There. Now if my nosy mother comes in here, she'll think last night was my first time.

It was late morning before we even emerged from our room. Of course, Grandma Fa had plenty of teasing for us.

"Busy making me a great grandchild, were ya?"

"Grandma!" I blurted out, blushing.

Later, I saw my mother sneak into our room. I called that right. She looked very surprised and confused when she came out. Hopefully, that will be the end of that. I had a sneaking feeling it wouldn't be, though.

We had a wonderful 4 days, mostly in each other's arms, until he had to return to the Imperial City. He hoped to be back in a couple weeks. I hoped so. I hardly had been away from him for more than a day for months. I passed the lonely days by riding on Khan, practicing martial arts, and chores. Every night, I touched myself to fall asleep. I thought about making love to Shang, and the time I'd spent at the brothel. I realized now that I craved both men and women sexually, but my loyalty was to my husband.

As it turned out, Shang was able to come home in two weeks like we had hoped. I had a surprise for him.

I was pregnant again. This time it was cause for celebration, not panic like before. I knew there was a chance this baby had happened while we were still at Wu Zhong or on the road to the pass, but it was hard to know. I was only a week late.

I got rid of the rest of my Dong Quai by burying it in the horse's' dung pile after cleaning out the stable. I wouldn't need it anymore.

Of course, my parents and grandma were happy about the baby.

First thing Shang did when he got home was to scoop me up and carry me to our room. Two weeks was the very longest we'd ever been apart, as of yet. I knew there would be longer separations in the future.

It felt so good to be in his arms again. I didn't want to ever let him go, but I knew that wasn't reality. Not when I was married to a general of the Imperial army who could be called to duty at any time.


	8. Chapter 8

Shang's POV

After being away from Mulan for two weeks, I was eager to be back home again with her. I had been with her nearly every single day for months. For much of that, we'd been having sex. Suddenly going so many days without her had made me quite lonely, but there was no way I was going to bring a concubine to my room in the palace. I knew that would break her heart, and I wanted to be a good husband to her now. I would never seek sexual satisfaction from another woman again. My heart and my body belonged to Mulan now.

I felt I needed to make up for how I had treated her when I discovered her gender. Insisting she have sex with me so I would let her live was the most underhanded, nefarious thing I'd ever done.

Within minutes of taking care of my horse, I'd carried Mulan into our room. As soon as I'd shut the door, she whispered that she was pregnant again. This time she looked happy and so was I. There would be no abortion herbs this time. We both wanted this baby. Her pregnancy this time would be something to celebrate, not a problem to be hidden and eliminated.

After shedding my armor, I laid down and watched my beautiful wife slowly undress. I've always loved watching her remove her clothing. She used to act real uncomfortable when I watched her, but now she loved it. She always draws it out, slowly removing one clothing item at a time because she knows it drives me crazy. She tossed a sash at me, and I held it to my nose and breathed in her scent. That made me even crazier, wanting her. Another sash landed on me, and then her dress hit the floor. She very slowly removed her underclothing with an evil grin. She could see the effect it was having on me.

I held my arms out after Mulan had finally tossed the last bit of cloth onto the floor and she laid down next to me. I'd never wanted her as intensely as I did now.

I tried to move slow, but I wanted her too badly. I climbed right on her and pushed into her. It's always been the most amazing feeling whenever I first go inside her. I felt so close to her. I planted kisses all over her neck and breasts as I started moving inside her. The desperation inside me was growing so strong that I couldn't hold back anymore, and I started thrusting into her wildly until we both hit an intense peak. Then I stayed close to her until I was able to go again.

This time I could take it a little slower. I reached my hand down and rubbed that little nub until I'd brought her to an orgasm a few times.

Then I gently bit and sucked on her breasts until she suddenly arched her back and moaned loudly with a climax again. I'd never given her one that way before. I didn't even know that was possible. Something new to add to my arsenal of tricks to make my lady soldier scream. I reached my hand down again and rubbed that nub more, until she was begging me to push into her from the uncomfortable intensity of the repeated orgasms. I just grinned and kept on with what I was doing until she was yelling curse words at me.

Finally, not being able to take it anymore, she suddenly pushed me onto my back and jumped on me. This time she was the one moving wildly, and I didn't last long before I moaned into her hair and she nearly screamed into my shoulder. She rolled to the side and we both caught our breath for several minutes.

We forgot she had family here, who probably just heard everything. Ugh!

Sure enough, when we came out to eat, her Grandma nudged her in the ribs.

"Sounds like you two were trying to make us another little soldier in there." Mulan groaned.

They didn't know she was pregnant?

"Actually, Grandmama, I am pregnant."

"What? Already?"

"Yup!"

Her grandma let out a loud yell. "Hey, Mulan's pregnant!"

She blushed. Her mother and father gave her a hug. But then they both looked at me for a moment and turned away. Huh? That was weird.

Her family was not particularly friendly to me. Her Grandma stared me down once in awhile and none of them really talked to me much. When they did, it was cold and to the point.

Maybe they knew we would be moving closer to the city soon, and didn't want to lose her. Or else maybe that medic had said something to them while he was away from Wu Zhong on that supposed family business of his.

I asked Mulan if she had noticed them being unfriendly towards me. She had, but didn't exactly know why, either. The medic possibly having came here and told her parents had crossed her mind, too. She was more than ready to move closer to the Imperial City, too.

Mulan estimated there was about 8 moons before our baby would be here. While I was home, we spent hours in each other's arms.

A week after returning, I had to go back to my duties at the Imperial city. I hated leaving Mulan again, and vowed to find housing for us in or near the Imperial City so we wouldn't have to be apart so much. She cried when I left, and she wasn't one to cry often. Then I remembered that she was pregnant, and this was probably affecting her emotions.

Shortly after my arrival, I was summoned to see the Emperor. There was a special secret mission he needed me to carry out.

After showing me a map, he explained the situation. Mongol forces were gathering near our border. We had lost most of our military troops in the recent Hun invasion, and were hopelessly outnumbered. China had no way to defend itself right now.

I was needed to escort his three daughters to Qi Gong so they could marry Lord Chin's son's and seal a peace treaty. This would create an alliance so strong between Qi Gong and the Middle Kingdom that the Mongols would not dare attack us.

Then he asked if I would be willing to bring my wife along. He wanted a female to come along on this trip with the princesses, thinking this would make them more comfortable than traveling with just male soldiers.

He didn't know Mulan had secretly been a soldier in my army regiment. I preferred to keep it that way. He only knew that I had married Fa Zhou's daughter, and I had told him it had been an arranged marriage.

I told him about Mulan's pregnancy, but also that the baby's birth was a long ways off. I was fairly sure she would agree to come along, but wanted to ask her first. Because she was my wife now, we didn't need her father's approval for her to join the mission.

The Emperor gave me leave to go home and talk with her. If she was willing, she was to return with me within two days. If not, I would return alone and another woman would come along. I knew she wouldn't be crazy about that idea.

There was an underlying tension between us. I didn't want to do anything to rock the boat. I had a feeling it was because of how our relationship had started, and that it would eventually boil over. Me going on this mission with another woman could push her over the edge.

Mulan was surprised to see me the next morning. I told her about the mission and about how the Emperor wanted her to come along. She agreed to come with me. I left out the part about another woman going in her place if she didn't want to. Since she was joining me, she wouldn't need to know that.

Her family did not like the idea at all since she had just come home and was with child, but because I was her husband now they couldn't stop her. I needed her to join me and that was final. Most importantly, the Emperor had requested I bring her along, and I reminded them of that more than once.

I was happy to have the night to spend with Mulan instead of sleeping alone at the palace. Of course, we didn't sleep all that much. We were too busy making up for future lost time when we'd be in a tent near other people who probably didn't want to hear us. Of course, her family could hear us now and they probably didn't want to, either. Another reason we can't wait to move. We need a house of our own.

My favorite position for making love is when I lay on my back and she's on top of me. Her hair hangs down around my face and her breasts dangle right in front of me. Plus, I can move my hands up and down over her back and butt. She loves it when I start massaging her ass cheeks as she moves over me. I love chasing her bouncing breasts with my mouth.

It was as all this was happening that I got an idea. I remembered one of the nights we'd had sex at Wu Zhong and I'd stuck my finger up her back passage and told her that one day I would stick something else in there. That day was finally here.

When I whispered in her ear, she was agreeable and rolled off me and laid on her stomach with her knees bent. I'd wanted to do this for a long time. I wet her back passage with my saliva and juices from her heat, then slowly and carefully started to go in. She gasped in pain at first, so I paused to let her get used to it.

"Are you sure you want to do this? I can pull back out if you don't."

"No, I like it. I'm just getting used to it is all."

Then I proceeded, slow at first. It was definitely different, but I liked it. I slipped 3 fingers into her heat.

"Mmmmmm…. you can go a little faster, and deeper."

I picked up speed and continued to thrust into her passage until I had an orgasm right in her ass. It was amazing. Everything we do together is.

We made love all night. Sleep is overrated. I would rather be holding my lady soldier than getting shut eye, any time.

We left at dawn the next morning. She had to stop Khan twice on the way so she could throw up. I asked her if she was truly up for this trip. She assured me she was, that it was just morning sickness.

Just before arriving at the Imperial City, we stopped at a small nearby village to collect the three soldiers I'd chosen to come with us. They were her friends from Wu Zhong; Yao, Ling and Chien Po.

Only Chien Po had known Ping was a girl, but we quickly filled the other two in on who the lady with me was. Yao and Ling had no clue their friend had been female.

Yao seemed really embarrassed about something, but wouldn't say what. He only mumbled something about a "king of the rock". Mulan told me later about a time she had been bathing in the pond at Wu Zhong. The three had come into the water and seen her before she could swim away. Yao had jumped up on the boulder naked and boasted he was "king of the rock".

His embarrassment was likely realizing he had unknowingly completely exposed himself to a female. Luckily, at the time, none of them figured out their young friend Ping was a girl.

They were all surprised we were married already and even more surprised that she was pregnant. They had lots of teasing for me.

We quickly briefed them about the mission we were on, and they were agreeable to accompanying us. After donning their armor, we set off for the Imperial City.

The Emperor wanted us to leave first thing in the morning. Supplies were already packed for us and the princesses' belongings were ready. We all got rooms in the palace for the night.

Once again, Mulan and I spent the night making love, after she took her sweet time teasing me while she slowly removed her clothing. It was hard to pass up the chance to not have to worry about her family hearing us and being teased by her Grandma. Besides, our bed was enormous.

We made love in every position we could think of. I'll never get tired of my beautiful bride. There's nothing in the world more amazing to me than the feeling of being inside her and looking into her eyes.

Partly through the night, I got an idea and pulled on some clothes, then went in search of a concubine. After I told the young woman what we wanted, she was agreeable. Mulan was surprised and pleased when I returned to our room with her, and quickly relieved the woman of her clothing. I knew Mulan wanted to experience a woman again after the visit to the brothel during the war. The other soldiers had pushed her into a room with a prostitute, thinking she was a young, inexperienced male soldier. The two women had sex while she was there, and Mulan had very much enjoyed it.

I sat back and watched, amazed, as my wife and the concubine orally and manually pleasured each other over and over. They could have kept it up all night. Finally, I couldn't take being just a spectator, so I entered Mulan from behind while she kept her mouth on the young woman's heat. As I slammed into my wife, she jammed her fingers into the concubine and continued to wag her tongue over her clit. Eventually, the three of us laid back on the bed and caught our breath, then our new friend left.

We didn't think anyone else was in a room nearby us, but we were wrong. Yao was next to us on one side, Ling was on the other and Chien Po was across the hall. Apparently, they all heard everything, but hopefully they didn't know anyone had joined us during the night.

As soon as we emerged in the morning, the teasing started. We had kept them awake all night, couldn't we control ourselves? She was already pregnant, were we trying for twins? Mulan blushed like crazy and I glared at them, but they just laughed and kept teasing us. It was going to be a long trip.

While the soldiers and myself stood guard, the princesses came outside and bid their father goodbye. Then they got in the carriage. Chien Po rode on a horse behind them, while Ling and Yao steered the horses in the front of the carriage. Mulan and I rode on our horses ahead of them.

We had three days to get to Qi Gong. I had a map which laid out the route we needed to take.


	9. Chapter 9

Still Shang's POV

We rode for several hours, then stopped to water the horses and eat. That was after Mulan had stopped three times to throw up. She was becoming an expert at bending over the side of Khan and vomiting without getting any on herself or her horse.

She managed to keep down some tea and plain rice, and took a short nap next to her horse.

The princesses walked around after we ate, but with their tiny feet they weren't able to walk very much at a time. Their feet had been broken and bound at a young age to keep them small. Too many steps on them made them ache.

When we got back on the road, Mulan looked like she was feeling a little better.

We made camp that night a couple hours before it got dark and ate supper. The soldiers took first watch, and Yao elbowed me in the ribs and whispered.

"Don't make her scream too loud, Pretty Boy. It might scare the princesses." I gave him a shove.

Actually, we were both too exhausted for sex and curled up together tightly under blankets and fell asleep almost immediately.

Chien Po woke us up when it was our turn to keep watch, then the three guards went to their own tents to sleep.

Of course, while we were guarding, Mulan vomited a few more times. She looked like she was losing weight, but still insisted she was alright. She hadn't been this sick with her first pregnancy, at least not that I had seen. No, she wasn't. I would have noticed if she was throwing up this frequently during training.

When we were ready to get back on the road, she was still throwing up. I made the mistake of saying in front of the guards something about how she wasn't that sick at Wu Zhong when she was pregnant. Mulan glared at me and put her finger to her lips, but the soldiers had already heard it.

"Huh?" Yao chimed in. "She was pregnant at Wu Zhong? What'd you do, Pretty Boy, make her sleep with you to stay alive?" He clenched his fists and looked me square in the eye.

I nodded. It was pointless to lie. "I told her she had to have sex with me or else she would die by the law." Yao looked at Mulan, who'd gone white as a ghost and then red-faced with shame, and then back at me. He glanced at Chien Po and Ling, and motioned with his head for them to join him.

Chien Po looked me straight in the eye. "You told Mulan she had to have sex with you to stay alive? Are you kidding me? That is about the worst thing I've ever heard."

Mulan jumped on Khan and took off in tears. The three guards watched her leave crying, and their anger escalated. Her tears had further confirmed it to them.

When I looked up, all three of the guards were standing in front of me glaring angrily at me. Luckily, the princesses were already in the carriage and hopefully didn't hear anything.

Ling spoke next. "You demanded sex in exchange for her life. How could you do something like that? That is incredibly dishonorable." That was the same word the medic had used when he'd confronted me.

This time Chien Po spoke up. "I didn't think you would ever stoop that low, General Li." He said the last two words in a very mocking fashion.

These guys were seriously furious with me. As Ping, Mulan had been their close friend and they continued that camaraderie and loyalty now, girl or not. At Wu Zhong, once they'd all started getting along, they'd been inseparable. And now they knew what I'd gotten Mulan to do when I'd learned her secret. For the first time, I was truly faced with exactly how selfishly I had acted. Mulan had been in a vulnerable spot, and I'd badly taken advantage of her situation, even if it had all been consensual.

Give up her virginity to me, or die. Those were her choices. I'd known all along it was wrong, but I had done it anyway. Now I had to pay for it.

It was as if I was face to face with three older brothers of hers who were here to avenge the loss of her honor. I knew this wasn't going to end well for me.

"I think it's time for General Li here to learn just how badly he acted." Yao's steel eyes were staring straight into mine, and they promised revenge. "What do you think, boys?"

"Mulan's like a sister to us. You know what older brothers do to a man that dishonors their younger sister." Ling's eyes were full of rage. "Let's teach him a lesson."

Yao threw the first punch. Chien Po knocked me down, and the three moved in on me and started punching and kicking me. I don't know how long they would have kept it up if the princesses hadn't opened up the carriage door. The oldest was wondering what was taking so long to get moving and saw the three guards beating me up. She hollered at them to stop, and was joined by her sisters.

They did stop, and let me stand up. I was sure I had broken ribs, and my gut and back ached badly. It felt like my eye was swollen shut, and my nose was bleeding.

They stood watching me as I walked to my horse.

"Don't even think of reporting us for beating you up. We could report you for what you did and you know that would be trouble." The normally serene Chien Po wore a look of rage I hadn't seen on him before as he relayed this threat. He couldn't have been more correct. If the truth got out, I'd lose my position at best. At worst, I'd be imprisoned or even killed for allowing a woman to stay in the army as long as she had sex with me.

"You guys are right. I should not have done any of that. I was wrong."

Now Yao spoke up. "Damn right, Pretty Boy. So help us, if you ever break her heart or do anything to cause harm to her, make no mistake, we will kill you." The venom in his voice and icy steel in his eyes told me he meant it.

Ling walked up to me and put his face an inch away from mine. "We should kill you now for what you did, making Mulan sleep with you to stay alive. But, lucky for you, we don't want her to be a pregnant widow."

"She never fought me about it."

Ling glared at me. "She was in a vulnerable position, and you told her that if she wanted to stay alive, she had to have sex with you. You acted so low. Where's your integrity?"

Chien Po shook his head. "He obviously doesn't have any integrity, boys."

I stared at my feet. The full weight of what I had done hit me, finally. I remembered my conversation with Fa Zhou when I'd first come to Mulan's house. He'd questioned me about how I'd handled the truth about Mulan's secret and had seemed somewhat disbelieving when I'd told him I hadn't made Mulan do anything extra to convince me to keep her alive. He spoke to me coldly and only when necessary. Her grandma had stared me down multiple times. Her mother barely spoke to me. I realized her family didn't believe me and never would.

It was possible her mother had even seen through Mulan's ruse to make her family think she'd been a virgin on our wedding night by cutting herself and dripping blood on the bedsheet. Her mother had seemed interested in her hands later that day and had fussed about the condition of her fingernails from military camp.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized I hadn't fooled anyone.

Suddenly, I was the one with a revealed secret that needed to be hid. But there was no one to hide it from. The three men in front of me knew, and Mulan's family back at her house knew, I was sure of it.

Ling looked around suddenly. "Guys, where's Mulan?" We all looked around. There was no sign of her. Anywhere. We were near bandit country. Anything could happen to her. She'd ridden off in shame and humiliation after I'd admitted what I did. I'm sure she didn't want the guards to know she'd had sex with me at Wu Zhong.

I found myself face to face, almost nose to nose, with Chien Po. "She was so ashamed of what went down that she took off in tears. How dare you let her be ashamed of YOUR actions!"

Yao cracked his knuckles. "I think he needs to be taught a little more of a lesson, don't you?" All three nodded at each other.

This time, Ling threw the first punch. I started to fight back, but I underestimated Chien Po's martial arts skills. I was on the ground before I could blink, and was being beaten once again by my wife's surrogate brothers who were standing up for her honor.

Honor? I had none. They made sure I knew that. I knew I deserved every kick and punch they delivered for making Mulan choose between her virginity and her life.

I vaguely was aware of the princesses yelling at them to stop again, but this time Yao told them to stay out of it and go back in the carriage. That it didn't concern them. I didn't hear their response because everything was going black. The last thing I remember was Yao's foot making contact with my forehead.

When I woke up again, the sun was high in the sky. The ground was soaked with blood. Only my horse was by me, and everyone else was gone. Trying to move was excruciating, but I forced myself to get up and climb on my horse. I could only see out of one eye and my jaw hurt so badly I could barely open my mouth. It hurt to breath, so I was quite sure I had many broken ribs. My nose felt swollen, like it was broken, and I was missing teeth. My head pounded, and my gut and back ached worse than earlier. They'd taught me a lesson, all right. One I would never forget.

I steered my horse towards Qi Gong, figuring they must have all continued on the mission without me. Did they just leave me for dead? Or did they intentionally beat me up just enough that I'd be badly injured but not so severely that I would die? The second scenario seemed more likely, since Ling had said they didn't want Mulan to be a pregnant widow.

I had finally been forced to step back and look at how I'd behaved, and and I was ashamed. How could I have treated Mulan like that and lived with myself? How could I have been so selfish? The medic could see how wrong I was, and I was sure Mulan knew what I did was wrong. I'd all but turned off my conscience.

She had consented to everything, but her other choice would have been to be killed and have her disabled father be drafted in her place. The whole reason she had joined the army was to protect him. So she gave herself to me so she could continue to protect him from fighting against the brutal Huns.

I was a miserable, selfish, perverted creep to treat Mulan that way. There was no more justifying my actions. She had to be angry with me for how I had treated her, even if she didn't say so. She didn't really have any choice but to marry me after I'd taken her honor. No other man would have her. If she had tried to marry someone else, they would have discovered her lack of virginity and her family would have been dishonored and outcast. I knew she loved her family too much to ever let that happen. Her other options would have been working in a brothel or suicide.

I had to try to make things right with my wife. But first, I had to find her. My best bet was to start heading to Qi Gong. She had ridden off by herself after the guards had confronted me, and hopefully she had met up with them again. I had a lot I needed to say to her.


	10. Chapter 10

Mulan's POV

The morning in question had started with my morning sickness in full force. I'd been up guarding with Shang for several hours before the princesses and guards all got up.

When we were saddling up to leave, I'd stopped to throw up again. Shang had to open his big mouth and remarked that I hadn't gotten sick like that when I'd been pregnant at Wu Zhong. I'd glared at him to be quiet, but it was too late.

Yao was quickly in his face confronting him, and was joined by Chien Po and Ling. He admitted that he'd insisted I sleep with him to stay alive.

I burst into tears and took off on Khan. The last thing I saw as I rode away was the three of them beating Shang. They were like the older brothers I'd never had. I hated to see my husband being hurt, but I also knew he deserved it.

He had made me choose between my virginity and my life. To protect my father, I'd saved my own life and started having sex with him. What choice did I have? Would other daughters have done the same thing in my shoes? I think many other daughters my age would have done the same thing.

Riding alone on the road to Qi Gong, I let my tears flow freely. I'd known all along that Shang had acted badly. Now he was being forced to face what a creep he was. I was grateful to my three friends for not being afraid to confront him.

The day after our wedding, after I had pulled the ruse with cutting my finger, my mother had looked at my hands and fussed about the condition of my fingernails after months of military camp. I realized later that day that she would have seen the cut on my finger, and probably put it together with the blood on the bedsheet.

I knew her and my father and grandmother didn't like Shang very much. Even though we both separately had told them that nothing had happened at Wu Zhong, none of them had believed our lies.

My tears had been flowing so thickly that I hadn't been paying attention to where I was going. When I finally stopped and looked around, I was in a gorge, surrounded by tall rock walls.

Bandit country! Not a place for a woman to be alone. I turned Khan around and headed back the way I came. A few minutes later, I saw ropes drop in front of me and several bandits suddenly appeared.

I screamed and kicked Khan to take off, which he did immediately. One of the bandits fired an arrow that hit him in the flank, and he fell. They immediately ran towards me. I pulled out my sword and was able to kill two of the bandits.

I had wounded a third and a fourth one was closely approaching me with a lustful look in his eye when I heard the sound of horses and shouting. It was Yao and Ling, galloping towards me. They quickly dispatched the other two bandits and finished off the one I had wounded.

Chien Po came riding up a moment later, driving the carriage. After the three of them made sure I was alright, they all looked at me and then looked down, at the sky, the cliffs, everywhere but in my eye. I knew right away why.

"Where's Shang? What did you guys do to him?"

"He's back there" Yao pointed the direction they'd come from.

"I saw you guys beating him up as I rode away. How badly did you guys hurt him?"

Once again, they looked around at everything but me.

"Guys?"

"We knocked him out and left him by his horse. He'll wake up eventually, probably very sore but hopefully a little wiser."

"Mulan, why didn't you tell us what was going on?"

Now it was my turn to avoid eye contact. I stared at my feet.

"I was afraid of what you guys would say if you knew my secret and I was ashamed of my own behavior. I'm such a whore." Tears ran down my face and my voice was so quiet I wasn't sure if they'd even heard me. I was too ashamed of myself to look up at them. They knew what I had done with Shang. I had whored myself to stay alive. My silent tears turned to sobs.

Chien Po put an arm around me and I grabbed onto his robe and cried into his chest. He held me and let me cry for a few minutes before talking.

"You chose to do it because you would have been killed, otherwise. You really didn't have any choice except to sleep with Pretty Boy and live or die and let your father be drafted. We made sure he faced the consequences of his behavior. What he did was not ok."

He put a finger under my chin and lifted my face up so he could look at me.

"We don't think you're a whore, Mulan. You did what you had to so you could protect your father.

Ling walked up to me, followed by Yao. "We didn't kill him. He'll wake up."

I looked around at the dead bandits and at my horse. My beloved horse Khan was dead from the arrow they'd fired when I'd tried to ride away. My husband was laying on the ground somewhere unconscious. I buried my face in Chien Po's robe again and continued to sob for several minutes while he held me and patted my back and let me cry. Ling and Yao stood by quietly. I heard Chien Po start chanting a quiet mantra and it soothed me. I finally let go of his soaking wet robe and wiped my eyes.

"Thank you for letting me cry on you."

"Anytime. That's what big brothers are for, little sis."

The princesses finally got out of the carriage.

"Is everything ok?" asked the oldest, Princess Ting Ting.

"Yeah, it is now. Mulan got ambushed by bandits, but she managed to kill two and wound a third before we got here. Yao and Ling took care of the other two."

I realized my gut was hurting, the same way it had when I'd taken the Dong Quai at Wu Zhong. I felt something dripping from me and looked down. My robe and pants were soaked with blood.

The gorge walls around me were starting to press in. I started feeling really weak and dizzy, so I grabbed Chien Po's arm as everything went dark and I fell.

I woke up in the carriage, with a woman I didn't recognize. She told me the guards had seen her riding nearby and hollered that they needed help. When she reached them, they told her I was pregnant. This woman just happened to be a midwife. The ancestors must be watching over me.

She told me I'd miscarried. By the time the guards had gotten me into the carriage, my clothes and the ground around me were soaked with blood. She sat me up and shoved a cup of tea in my hand.

"Drink it. It will help you stop bleeding."

I did as I was told.

"I really wanted this baby."

"The guards told me you were pregnant recently, but it wasn't the same pregnancy. What happened with that one?"

I stared at the tea in my hands, deciding if I should tell her the truth or not. I figured I probably should. She had to be able to properly treat me.

"After the Huns invaded, I had pretended to be a man and went to Wu Zhong in my father's place so he wouldn't have to go to war after he got a conscription notice. He's badly disabled. The captain saw me getting out of the pond once after I'd gone in there to bathe and told me he would keep my secret if I slept with him. After I got pregnant, he got some Dong Quai from the medic and I took it and miscarried. After the war was over, we got married."

"How far along were you this time?"

"About 6 or 7 weeks."

"Where is your husband?"

"I don't know."

"What do you mean, you don't know?"

"This morning, before we broke camp to head to Qi Gong, he accidentally made a comment about how I didn't get this sick when I'd been pregnant at Wu Zhong. The guards heard him, and they knew we just got married not that long ago. They realized that meant we'd been having sex at the camp and confronted him about it. They somehow knew right away that he'd gotten me to sleep with him by telling me he wouldn't take my life if I did. When they confronted him, he admitted it, and I burst into tears and took off on my horse.

As I was riding away, I saw them beating him up. After the bandits attacked, I'd screamed, which the guards heard, and they got here after I had killed two and wounded a third. They killed the other two. Then they told me they had knocked him unconscious and left him to wake up on his own."

"You weren't raped by the bandits, were you?"

"No, but one of them was approaching me like that was his intent. The guards arrived before he could, though."

We both heard Shang's voice outside asking where I was.

"She's in the carriage. She passed out."

"Mulan? Are you alright?"

The midwife shoved a second cup of tea in my hand and got up and left the carriage. "I'll be back. Drink that tea while I make you more. We have to stop the bleeding and that tea will help."

I nodded. "I lost the baby. That's why I passed out. I started bleeding and the guards saw a woman riding by and hollered to her that they needed help. She happened to be a midwife and came right over."

I looked at Shang's face. It was swollen and black and blue. One eye was swelled shut. His lips and nose were puffy and there was blood on his face and shirt. He moved as if he was in a lot of pain but was trying to hide it.

"They really beat you good, didn't they?"

"Yeah. Twice. The second time, they knocked me right out. But, they were right. I acted very selfishly. I should not have put you in a situation where you had to choose between saving your honor or saving your life. I'm truly sorry, Mulan. Are you angry with me for how I treated you?"

I took a deep breath. "Yes, I am. That was an impossible situation to be in. I felt like a filthy, disgusting whore to have sex with you every day to stay alive."

"Do you still love me?"

"Yes. It might take a while to forgive you, though."

"I'm truly sorry."

I looked down at my tea and then at him again. "I really wanted this baby."

"So did I. We'll try again. We'll have another one." Shang put his arms around me and I cried into his chest for a second baby that we would never get to know.

I didn't care that it wasn't custom to mourn miscarried babies. I would weep for this child that we had lost.

The midwife poked her head into the carriage and handed me two more cups of tea. "Drink up. It's herbs especially for stopping this kind of bleeding. I always carry them with me, since I never know when I'll need them, like today."

Shang looked up at her. "Thank you for helping my wife."

"You're welcome. It looks like you took quite a beating. I can make a poultice for that eye, if you would like."

"That would be great."

After giving me a quick kiss and once again whispering that he was sorry, he followed her out. I drank up all the tea in my hand and laid down. I was exhausted, physically and mentally.

More tears slid down my cheeks as I placed my hands over my empty womb. I'm sorry, my child. If I hadn't ridden away in tears earlier and then been ambushed by the bandits, maybe this wouldn't have happened. But it was awfully hard to know if I could have prevented it.

I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I knew, Shang was shaking my shoulder asking if I was alright.

"Yeah, I'm just tired."

"We're gonna make camp and head to Qi Gong tomorrow. You need to rest tonight. Midwife's strict orders."

We headed out through the gorge to the other side, and made camp by a river. The princesses rode on horses, since I was in the carriage. A while later, we stopped. Shang came in and carried me to our tent.

"Shang, I can walk."

"The midwife said you have to rest and take it easy tonight. She wants you up only when necessary. Just lay down, me and the guards will take care of everything."

I noticed there was a lot of blood on the floor of the carriage. Then I realized why he was carrying me with a blanket over me. My pants and the lower part of my armor were off and also bloody and on the floor of the carriage. I must have bled a lot, but it seemed to be slowing down. Shang laid me down on a mat and covered me up with a few blankets. I was shivering. I was still recovering from the blood loss of my last miscarriage and the battle wound, and now my body had to deal with this.

A while later, he came in with rice and dumplings and more of that tea. "She told me to make you drink more of this tonight and then tomorrow as well." He pulled the blankets away. "Good, it looks like the bleeding almost stopped. She doesn't live very far from here and told me to come get her if it didn't. She also told me not to touch you for several weeks. Just like before, only this time for much, much longer. Your body has been through a lot the last couple months and you have to recover."

I was actually thankful for that. I did not feel up to any kind of sex and knew I wouldn't for a while.

"Mulan, I'm truly sorry for how I treated you."

"I've been angry over it for quite a while, but I didn't know if I would ever be able to tell you. I think I forgive you, Shang.

"Thank you! Although I don't feel I deserve it when I treated you so poorly."

"But you can't change it. So stop beating yourself up."

"I'll try. I love you, Mulan."

"I love you, too, Shang."

After he left the tent, I realized my family was going to blame him for my losing the baby because he had insisted I accompany him. Of course, the Emperor had personally requested that I join Shang on the mission. But I wondered if that would matter to them. They were really going to hate him, now.

But, I was too exhausted to worry about my family's reactions right now. After a while, Shang came in and laid down by me and I curled up to him. The blood loss had left me freezing, even with many blankets, and he helped warm me up. As he put his arm around my back and I started to drift off, I felt him kiss my head and he whispered, "I'm sorry, Mulan. I love you."


	11. Chapter 11

Shang's POV

The beatings I'd gotten from Yao, Ling and Chien Po had opened my eyes to just how rotten I'd acted towards Mulan at Wu Zhong.

After the princesses and Mulan had all gone to sleep, I'd talked to them. They were up guarding and I was supposed to be sleeping.

"Hey, guys, thanks for standing up for Mulan. You were right. That was really rotten of me."

"She's like a sister to us, Shang. Of course, we'll stand up for her."

"I hope you learned your lesson and woke up a little wiser."

"I did. I woke up a lot wiser, in fact."

Chien Po put his hand on my shoulder. "I'm sorry the two of you lost your baby."

"Thank you"

"That scared us pretty good when she passed out and her clothes were full of blood. The ground around her was even soaked with blood."

"Thank you for flagging down the midwife so she could help her. And thank you for coming to her aid when she got ambushed by the bandits."

"Guess you have a lot you owe us for, eh, Pretty Boy?" Yao rubbed his hands together.

I looked down. "I certainly do."

"Go get some sleep, General. Or go wake up Mulan." Ling elbowed me in the ribs.

"Nope, there won't be any of that for a long time. The midwife told me I was not to touch her for at least 6 weeks."

"That stinks. Guess you'll just have to learn to keep your hands off her for a while, huh?"

"Yes, I will."

"So what happened when she got pregnant at Wu Zhong?"

"I got some herbs from the medic to make her miscarry."

"Was she ok with that?"

"Yeah"

"So how did you find out her secret?"

"I saw her getting out of the pond early in the morning, and she saw me watching her. That's when I told her if she slept with me, I wouldn't carry out the law."

Yao's eyes flashed and for a second, I thought I was going to take a beating again. "But you were telling the truth that you were never violent with her, right?"

"Right"

"If you had, we'd have already killed you. Slowly and painfully by chopping off something."

Involuntarily, my hands went over my manhood to protect it. The three soldiers laughed.

"Ok, now I think I will try to get some sleep."

Four hours later, Chien Po woke me up for my turn to keep watch. Mulan started to get up to do watch with me, but I told her to lay back down and sleep. She looked like she was gonna argue, so I reminded her the midwife had said she must take it easy.

In the morning, I woke Mulan up with more of the midwife's tea. I couldn't help but notice how pale she looked, and tired. But, of course, she insisted she was just fine. The bleeding had stopped, and there was no sign of a fever. But she wasn't getting up unless she absolutely had to, I made sure of that.

The midwife had told me in no uncertain terms that I was not to touch her for several weeks, at least six. Two miscarriages in roughly two months had taken a toll on her and her body needed to recover completely. It would be difficult, but I was determined to comply because it was what the woman I loved needed. I had to prove to myself and her that I had self-control and integrity. My life wasn't just about what I wanted anymore. There was two of us, and her need for recovery came first.

We stayed at that camping site for one more night. That way Mulan could rest as much as she needed to. She slept all night and all day, except when I woke her up to drink the midwife's tea and eat, and check her bleeding. It had slowed way down and then finally stopped. I also monitored her to make sure she didn't develop a fever, since the midwife told me I needed to watch out for that. If a fever did start, or if the bleeding worsened, I was to send one of the guards to get her. Thankfully, that didn't happen.

She didn't have much appetite, but I insisted that she eat and drink water and tea. Taking meticulous care of my wife, I began to feel the selfishness that had dictated my actions for so many months ebbing away.

Even by evening, after sleeping all day, Mulan still looked deathly pale and exhausted. I knew I'd made the right decision not to continue our journey until tomorrow. She slept all night again, and looked a little better in the morning. Her cheeks finally had a little pinkness.

We left at dawn the following morning. Because Khan had been killed by the bandits, Mulan rode on my horse with me. We left early in the morning to make up for losing an entire day, and made stops only when necessary. For several hours of our ride, she leaned against my chest and slept. I held her with one arm and steered my horse with the other.

We rode until almost sundown, then made camp. Mulan wanted to help set up tents and catch fish, but instead was sent right to bed after I set up our tent. I knew it was going to be hard to make sure she took it easy. I guess she got so used to being active all the time at Wu Zhong that having to rest wasn't a welcome mandate. Nevertheless, I was determined to make sure she followed the midwife's strict orders for rest whenever possible and to stay off her feet whenever she could.

The following morning, we finished out the last leg of our trip to Qi Gong. We delivered the princesses safe and sound to Lord Chin's palace, then stayed for their wedding. We got to stay in a room at the palace that night and left in the morning. Both of us were asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillows.

Before we left Qi Gong, we bought supplies for the trip back. We also got a horse to replace Khan. That's another thing Mulan's family will probably be angry with me for, Khan's dying. Even though I was not there and had nothing to do with it.

I could finally open both eyes again, after one was swollen shut for a couple days. I hadn't payed much attention to the soreness in my body while looking after Mulan, but it was there. I knew my ribs and back would hurt for a long time. They were lingering reminders of the hard lesson I'd just been taught.

While we rode back, I talked to Mulan about living closer to the Imperial City. Because I was in charge of the palace guard, I was needing to spend a lot of time there, so it made sense. I didn't want to be away from her while she was continuing to recover. Plus, it was difficult to be at her parent's home when they clearly didn't like me. She agreed. She hated the tension between her family and me.

Neither of us wanted to tell them about losing the baby. Or about Khan. We both knew they would blame me for everything.

That underlying, unspoken tension that had been present between Mulan and myself was gone. She had noticed I was putting her needs before my own now, instead of just looking out for myself.

At Wu Zhong, her survival depended on pleasing me sexually and I now knew she always worried about being good enough. I saw more love in her eyes than ever before. Before, I'd seen mainly anxiety.

I was thankful I still had this wonderful woman in my life, and that she hadn't been killed by the bandits or bled to death from the miscarriage.

The three guards had been on their mostly best behavior while the princesses were with us. Now that they were gone, Yao and Ling argued and fought and swore, just like they always had at Wu Zhong. In a way, it felt like old times, except that Mulan wasn't Ping anymore and we were married now.

We took our time getting back. The guards didn't have families they needed to get back to. Mulan and I wanted to delay facing her family as long as possible. The slow pace also allowed her plenty of rest.

I had to watch Mulan to make sure she didn't start doing anything to wear herself out. I was beginning to get to know the stubborn streak in my wife. I wouldn't allow her to fetch water or catch fish or anything else that would deplete her energy. She hated that, but that was how it had to be right now. The midwife had said she needed to be off her feet and resting whenever possible for several days, whether she liked it or not. She'd act angry with me when I'd make her lay down, but her eyes showed she knew it was because I loved her and was determined to take care of her.

Each night, we hung out with the three guards around a fire. They had an easy manner with me, but I knew they were watching me. One false move and I would be knocked out again. They had permanently put themselves in the place of Mulan's older brothers she never had. They liked the idea of us living closer to the Imperial City because then they could watch over her and keep an eye on me.

Eventually, we reached the palace and returned the carriage and the Emperor's horses.

Now we had to head home. But first, we were able to secure housing to move into. The Emperor was in favor of us moving closer, since I was in charge of his palace guard and it would mean less time away for me. All we needed to do was go home and get our belongings, which weren't that many.

Once again, we took our time getting back. On the last hill before her village, we stopped and looked down at it.

Mulan told me her relationship with her parents hadn't been the same since she'd returned home from war. By her perception, they still treated her like a stubborn child, not like the grown married woman she was.

After sharing a long kiss and hug, we started towards the Fa home. The horses took priority, so we cared for them first. We'd named the new horse Zang. She seemed to get on well with my horse and with her family's horses.

Finally, taking hands, we took a deep breath and went in the house. Her mother and grandmother gave her a hug, but barely said hi to me. I was used to it. We went to our room and started getting all our belongings packed. Well, actually, I packed them and made her lay down. She rolled her eyes, but smiled.

"And what are you two up to now?" Fa Zhou stood in the doorway of our room. He had heard me telling her to lay down while I packed up everything. I looked at Mulan, who was still awake, to let her know she needed to do the talking.

"We're moving closer to the Imperial City, since Shang is in charge of the palace guard there."

"When are you doing that?"

"We'll leave first thing in the morning."

He nodded at Mulan and glanced at me for a moment and then nodded my direction as well. I know my face was still bruised and he probably wondered why.

Dinner was quiet. I felt less tension than I had expected.

I sent her right to bed after supper, helped her mother with dishes and went to look after the horses. Fa Li looked surprised when I offered to help, and handed me a dish towel after giving me a grateful smile.

After a few minutes with the horses, I noticed I had company. Fa Zhou had come out to the barn.

I looked up at him and nodded to acknowledge his presence, but continued with what I was doing.

"I've noticed the selfless way you care for your wife now, General. I didn't see that before. I can tell you truly love her."

"Thank you. I do love her very much."

"May I ask what happened with the bruises on your face?"

"Let's just say I was taught a lesson that I won't soon forget about not being selfish. I learned on that trip to put my wife first before my own needs."

"Well I saw how you made her lay down while you packed up both your belongings, and then how you sent her to bed so you could help with dishes and take care of both of your horses. It looks like you learned it well."

"Thank you. I hope so."

"May I ask why Mulan needs to rest so much?"

I looked at him for a minute. I couldn't wake her up to ask if it was ok for me to tell her father about her miscarriage. I decided, since honesty was my new way of life, to tell him about it.

"She miscarried in bandit country and lost a lot of blood. A midwife just happened to be riding by as she passed out from blood loss, and looked after her. I was given strict orders to make sure she rested as much as possible for several days afterward. Believe me, it has not been easy to make sure she stays off her feet. She's stubborn."

"Yes, she is. She inherited that from me, I must admit. I had stubbornly accepted that conscription notice, knowing my body wasn't capable of fighting in a war."

"Mulan told me about all of that. She loves you very much, and put her own life at risk so you wouldn't have to go to war. The main Imperial army was all killed, so you would have been, too, if you had been with them."

"Yes, I know. I'm sorry to hear about your father."

"Thank you."

"General, if I ask you a question again, will you give me an honest answer this time?"

I knew what was coming. "Yes, sir."

"Did you insist my daughter have sex with you to stay alive?"

"Yes, sir, I did. She had to either have sex with me or she would be beheaded and you would have been drafted. I was a real creep. I apologize for lying to you the first time you asked me. That was what got me beaten up on our mission. The three soldiers we went with were close friends with Mulan when she was in the army. They found out what I did and beat me unconscious. I was finally forced to face myself and look at how selfish I had been."

"Good. Then I don't have to, as much as I would love to punch you for putting my daughter in that situation. Did my daughter also get pregnant and take abortion herbs to miscarry while at Wu Zhong?"

"Yes, she did. Her body has been through a lot the last couple of months. That's another reason the midwife was so insistent she rest for many days. Did you receive a visit from a medic you used to serve with, by chance?"

"Yes, Lieutenant Liu Kang, how did you know?"

"He had told Mulan about serving with you. Several days after her miscarriage, he was gone for about a day. We both wondered if he came here and told you and Fa Li what was going on."

"He did. So when she returned and you arrived the next day, we already knew what had happened, but were hoping you two would tell us the truth. Mulan lied to us as well."

"She was really ashamed of what she did, and she was sure she would be disowned if you knew. That's why she lied. Please don't be angry with her. If you're going to be angry with someone, let it be me. I'm the one that insisted she have sex with me to stay alive."

"You do love her. I am a little angry with her for lying, because that was her own decision, but I could never disown her."

"Maybe you should tell her that tomorrow morning. I think she is really ashamed of lying to you and Fa Li, too. She hates all the tension that has been between myself and all of you."

"I think you are right. I should tell her."

Then this man that I thought hated me gave me a hug.

"Welcome to the family, son. I think you have finally made yourself a man worthy of my daughter."

"Thank you, sir."

I finished with the horses and laid down by Mulan. She was sleeping soundly, and barely stirred when I put my arm around her and pulled her close to me and fell asleep.

In the morning, Mulan's family was insistent on having a meal with us before we left. While we were eating, Fa Zhou and I told her about the conversation we had last night in the barn.

She was surprised that I had told him the truth. When he told her they would never disown her, no matter what she did, she cried and her father hugged her close to him for a few minutes while she soaked his robe.

When I told her they knew about her miscarriage on the mission, she cried again, this time in her mother's arms.

"It feels so good to finally tell you the truth and not have so many lies between us anymore."

She hugged both her parents, and her grandma tightly before we left, and told them how much she loved them. Last night, when we arrived here, both of us couldn't wait to leave. Now we were stalling as much as we could, knowing we wouldn't see them for what could be weeks or months.

I finally had a family, now. Her parents and grandma considered me a son and grandson.

We made the journey back in good time. After introducing the horses to their new stable, we brought our belongings in the house. We were exhausted, so after a simple supper of rice and broth, we went to sleep for the first night in our own house.

I woke up before dawn the next morning. As I started to get out of bed, a small hand pushed me back onto the bed.

"Mulan, you know we can't do that yet. And you need to take it easy."

My stubborn wife.

"No, not that."

"What?"

She undid the drawstring on my pants and tugged on them, so I pulled them off, not sure what she was up too.

I didn't have to wonder long. Mulan took me into her mouth. It felt amazing. I let out a surprised gasp as she licked and sucked on my length until I knew I was nearly there.

"I'm almost done."

I closed my eyes and let out a groan as I climaxed and she kept her mouth on me, swallowing as much of it as she could.

"Thank you!"

I went to kiss her, but there was still some of my juices on her mouth, so I settled for a kiss on her cheek

Then I gently pushed her onto her back. Now it was her turn to remind me of the midwife's orders. But I had something else in mind. I pulled her night clothes out of the way and positioned my face between her legs.

"Just don't go inside at all, not even your fingers."

"Ok." I slowly moved my tongue over the little nub in circles and back and forth. She gasped and got a death grip on my hair. I listened to her breathing get more and more rapid and the little moans that escaped her lips getting higher pitched. Suddenly, she threw her head back with a loud moan and yanked on my hair hard. Her knees trembled. "Shang!"

That became our little routine nearly every morning.

The remaining five weeks of restriction went by fast. It was difficult, but doable.

When the day came that we could finally make love again, I rushed home as soon as my palace duties allowed . She was cooking supper, but I scooped her up and carried her to our room.

Both our clothes were off in no time, and covered the floor around our bed. I climbed on her and entered her immediately. With every thrust into her, I realized just how much I'd missed feeling myself inside of her. It didn't take long before we both were overcome by a climax. Afterward, I rolled to my side and pulled her tightly into my arms. She was kissing my neck and chest when we smelled supper burning. Oops! After cleaning up the charred mess and eating what we could salvage, I carried her back into our room again.

This time we could make it last longer. I laid her down on the bed again and kissed her neck and lips and face. I slowly pulled off her clothing and my own and gazed at her for a moment. She was so beautiful. For a moment, I remembered the very first time we'd had sex and I had stared at her for a few seconds before climbing on her. She'd been beautiful to me then, too, but now there was also a love I felt for her as well.

I continued kissing her neck and her breasts for several minutes. Then I worked my way up to her lips again.

After several long kisses, I whispered to her to open her eyes. The most beautiful brown eyes I'd ever seen were soon staring straight into mine and I could see the love in them.

Still looking into her eyes, I climbed over her and pushed inside her. Then I sat up, pulling her up with me so she was on my lap facing me.

That was the most incredible love we'd ever made.

I hadn't forgotten the lessons taught me on the way to Qi Gong by Yao, Ling and Chien Po. These were lessons that were, quite literally, pounded into my head by Mulan's surrogate older brothers.

It helped that they dropped by periodically to make sure I was behaving myself and that Mulan was doing ok.

I had learned how much I had taken Mulan for granted, and how much I needed to cherish her. I could easily have lost her twice in one day when she was ambushed by the bandits and then bled heavily while miscarrying. I was thankful there was still time to make it right.

One day, I decided to surprise her with a horseback ride to see her prostitute friend. She didn't talk much about it, but I suspected she missed her and craved the touch of a woman. I knew I was right as I watched the two of them kiss, lick, stroke and suck on each other. They were so hot and passionate together. We spent the whole night there, together. I only put myself inside Mulan, and never her friend. I belonged only to Mulan now. Right before we left, the two of them both put their mouths on me until I came hard. That wasn't something I was expecting, but Mulan said she wanted to do something special for me, since it had been my idea to come here. Just before we opened the door to leave, the two women shared a passionate kiss against the wall. It was clear they didn't want to part, but we did need to go. On the way home, Mulan told me that really meant a lot to her that I did that for her.


	12. Chapter 12

Mulan's POV

I could see the changes in Shang ever since his beatings on the way to Qi Gong. His life didn't revolve around having sex with me anymore. I saw real love in his eyes when he looked at me, not just lust. Instead of the dark, sensual need I used to see in his eyes at Wu Zhong, I saw honesty and love when he looked at me.

Especially when I was first recovering from the second miscarriage and had to rest constantly. I'd been exhausted and sleepy that day, and the next, and not fully in touch with what was going on around me. He'd woken me up frequently with cups of the midwife's tea, and watched my bleeding and made sure I didn't have a fever. I'd been too lethargic and exhausted to care for myself, but he looked after me with the skill of a medic or midwife.

He'd been so sweet and taken such good care of me in the days that followed. Even though I'd been annoyed with his following the midwife's orders to the letter, I knew it was because he cared and wanted me to recover.

I loved the changes in him, and it made my own love for him grow even deeper.

6 months after the trip to Qi Gong and the miscarriage, I was pregnant a third time. It was nerve-wracking for the first few months, hoping I wouldn't miscarry again. I woke up every day nervous that I would start bleeding and cramping and we'd lose another baby, but it never happened.

We were both relieved when we started feeling the baby moving.

About 5 months before the baby was due to arrive, we received a message that my grandma was ill.

Shang quickly made arrangements for the palace guard to be managed in his absence. We were able to head to my family's home the next morning.

We arrived just before sundown, and after greeting my parents, went straight to her bedside. She was fading fast.

She opened her eyes and squeezed my hand and told me she loved me. She told Shang she loved him, too. Then she left us.

I continued to hold onto her hand as it grew cold, and sobbed into her chest. Shang pried my hand away from hers and pulled me into his arms. I clung to his robe as I sobbed for the loss of the wonderful lady my grandma had been.

I was going to miss everything about her. Her jokes, her teasing, her unconventional wisdom… For so long, she'd been my best friend. So many times, when the world seemed to have coldly turned its back on me, she was there to dry my tears and make me smile again.

I remembered the hours we'd spend laughing together as she told me stories about my father when he was young. How she teased Shang and me the morning after our wedding, and every morning after we were married and still lived here.

I had always loved how she wasn't afraid to speak her mind. No one ever had to wonder what Grandma Fa thought about something, because she always told us. She was sassy and she was a strong woman. So many things about her I was going to miss now. I couldn't imagine life without her, but now I had to say goodbye.

We stayed for a couple of days with my parents, then headed home. I cried nearly the whole 12 hour trip back, my tears falling on my horse's mane. Shang was concerned that I'd get myself so upset that I'd miscarry, so I started quietly meditating to gain control of my emotions again.

We finally made it home again. I don't think I'll ever stop missing her. Shang was a big comfort to me over the next several weeks, whenever I burst into tears over missing her.

Being pregnant always made me an emotional mess, and I cried at the drop of a hat.

Living closer to the Imperial City meant Shang didn't have to be away for days at a time anymore. As my due date drew closer, that was a relief.

Shang told me all the time that my pregnant body was beautiful. I know he was really enjoying my breasts being more swollen, although he told me they were always perfect to him whether swollen with pregnancy or not. His strong sexual attraction to me had always made me feel beautiful. I had worried that he would lose interest as my body grew, but if anything the opposite happened.

As my belly grew, we had to modify things somewhat. He loved to have me lay down on the bed on my back right at the edge. Then he'd go inside me while standing up, and I'd wrap my legs around his waist.

About a week before I was due, I woke up before dawn with a bad cramp in my gut. It felt like the Dong Quai cramps, but much worse. I breathed through it until it went away. Several minutes later, it was back. After this had happened several times, I woke up Shang and told him the baby was coming. He looked nervous as he dressed and left to get the midwife.

By the time he came back with her, the pains had increased in severity. I paced back and forth through the house, pausing when they were at their worst. I kept this up until the midwife made me lay down after my water broke.

When I started feeling like my body wanted to push, the midwife checked my progress and said I was fully dilated, which meant I could start pushing. It seemed like I pushed with each pain for a long time. As I struggled to push out the baby's head, it burned and I felt certain I was tearing end to end. I did tear a little, but not as bad as I'd feared.

Once the baby's head was out, it was only a few more pushes until our son was born. I laid back on the bed, exhausted. I'd labored for 16 hours.

The midwife cut the cord and cleaned him off. Then she wrapped him in a blanket and handed him to me.

He was perfect. Beautiful. Ten fingers. Ten toes. A head full of black hair, and a loud, lusty cry. He looked a lot like Shang. We decided to call him Qiang, meaning strong.

He latched right onto my breast and started eating. Shang and I both watched him with amazement. We had created this tiny human through our love for each other. We finally had a little family of our own!

The End


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